COMMON STOCK REPURCHASES

12 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Equity [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity Note Disclosure [Text Block]

COMMON STOCK REPURCHASES

From time to time, the Company's Board authorizes programs under which the Company may repurchase shares of its common stock, depending on market conditions, in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. Repurchased shares are held as treasury stock until such time as they are retired or re-issued. During the years ended March 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, the Company repurchased 8,027,287, 3,315,000 and 1,935,100 shares of its common stock, respectively, for a total cost of $273.8 million, $105.5 million and $49.7 million, respectively. Of the total 8,027,287 shares repurchased in fiscal year 2012, 4,327,770 shares were repurchased in privately negotiated transactions and 3,699,517 shares were repurchased in the open market. All repurchases in fiscal years 2011 and 2010 were made in the open market. Repurchases by the Company pursuant to the Board authorized programs during fiscal years 2012, 2011 and 2010 are discussed in detail below. As of March 31, 2012, there were 633,613 remaining shares authorized for repurchase.

Privately Negotiated Transactions

In May 2011, pursuant to a Board authorized accelerated share repurchase ("ASR") program, the Company entered into two separate Master Confirmation and Supplemental Confirmations (“May 2011 ASR Agreements”) with Goldman, Sachs & Co. (“Goldman”) consisting of a "Collared ASR Agreement" and an "Uncollared ASR Agreement". In August 2011, the Company entered into an additional Supplemental Confirmation with Goldman, consisting of an uncollared ASR ("August 2011 Uncollared ASR Agreement"). Details of these transactions are described further below.

In accordance with the Equity topic of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC"), the Company accounted for each agreement with Goldman as two separate transactions: (i) as shares of common stock acquired in a treasury stock transaction recorded on the acquisition date and (ii) as a forward contract indexed to the Company’s own common stock. As such, the Company accounted for the shares that it received under the May 2011 ASR Agreements and the August 2011 Uncollared ASR Agreement as a repurchase of its common stock for the purpose of calculating earnings per common share. The Company has determined that the forward contracts indexed to the Company’s common stock met all of the applicable criteria for equity classification in accordance with the Derivatives and Hedging topic of the FASB ASC and, therefore, were not accounted for as derivative instruments.

May 2011 ASR Agreements

Under the May 2011 ASR Agreements, the Company paid Goldman $100.0 million in May 2011. As of March 31, 2012, Goldman delivered 2,831,519 shares of the Company's common stock under the Collared ASR and Uncollared ASR Agreements.

As of March 31, 2012, the Company received a total of 1,398,925 shares from Goldman under the Collared ASR Agreement at a total cost of $50.0 million and an average price per share of $35.74 based on the volume-weighted average price ("VWAP") of the Company's common stock during the term of the Collared ASR Agreement, less a discount.

As of March 31, 2012, the Company received a total of 1,432,594 shares from Goldman under the Uncollared ASR Agreement at a total cost of $50.0 million and an average price per share of $34.90 based on the VWAP of the Company's common stock during the term of the Uncollared ASR Agreement, less a discount.

August 2011 Uncollared ASR Agreement

Under the August 2011 Uncollared ASR Agreement, the Company paid Goldman $50.0 million in August 2011. As of March 31, 2012, the Company received a total of 1,496,251 shares from Goldman at a total cost of $50.0 million and an average price per share of $33.42 based on the VWAP of the Company's common stock during the term of the agreement, less a discount.

Open Market Repurchases

Under the Board authorized programs, during the years ended March 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, the Company repurchased 3,699,517, 3,315,000 and 1,935,100 shares of its common stock, respectively, in the open market for a total cost of $123.8 million, $105.5 million and $49.7 million, respectively, and an average price per share of $33.46, $31.83 and $25.66, respectively. The Company financed the repurchases using a combination of funds generated from operations and borrowings under its revolving line of credit.

In addition, the Company withheld shares valued at $2.6 million during the year ended March 31, 2012, compared to an immaterial amount in fiscal year 2011 and none in fiscal year 2010, in satisfaction of employee tax withholding obligations upon the vesting of restricted stock granted under the Company's stock plans. The amounts withheld were equivalent to the employees' minimum statutory tax withholding requirements and are reflected as a financing activity within the Company's Consolidated statements of cash flows. These share withholdings have the effect of share repurchases by the Company as they reduce the number of shares outstanding as a result of the vesting.

Treasury Stock Retirement

During the years ended March 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, the Company retired 5,000,000, 4,000,000 and 2,000,000 shares of treasury stock, respectively, at a total value of 177.1 million, 102.4 million, and 56.2 million, respectively. These were non-cash equity transactions in which the cost of the reacquired shares was recorded as a reduction to both Retained earnings and Treasury stock. The shares were returned to the status of authorized but unissued shares.