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Shareholders' Equity
 12 Months Ended
Sep. 27, 2014
Shareholders' Equity

Note 7 – Shareholders’ Equity

Preferred and Common Stock

During the second quarter of 2014, the Company’s shareholders approved amendments (the “Amendments”) to the Company’s Restated Articles of Incorporation. The Amendments included the elimination of the Board of Directors’ authority to issue preferred stock and established a par value for the Company’s common stock of $0.00001 per share.

Dividends

The Company declared and paid cash dividends per common share during the periods presented as follows:

 

     Dividends
Per Share		      Amount
(in millions)		  
2014:      

Fourth quarter

    $ 0.47       $ 2,807   

Third quarter

      0.47         2,830   

Second quarter

      0.44         2,655   

First quarter

      0.44         2,739   
  

 

 

     

 

 

  

Total

    $ 1.82       $ 11,031   
  

 

 

     

 

 

  
2013:      

Fourth quarter

    $ 0.44       $ 2,763   

Third quarter

      0.44         2,789   

Second quarter

      0.38         2,490   

First quarter

      0.38         2,486   
  

 

 

     

 

 

  

Total

    $ 1.64       $ 10,528   
  

 

 

     

 

 

  

The Company paid cash dividends of $0.38 per share, totaling $2.5 billion, during the fourth quarter of 2012. Future dividends are subject to declaration by the Board of Directors.

 

Share Repurchase Program

In 2012, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $10 billion of the Company’s common stock beginning in 2013. The Company’s Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization to $60 billion in April 2013 and to $90 billion in April 2014. As of September 27, 2014, $67.9 billion of the $90 billion had been utilized. The Company’s share repurchase program does not obligate it to acquire any specific number of shares. Under the program, shares may be repurchased in privately negotiated and/or open market transactions, including under plans complying with Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”).

The Company has entered into four accelerated share repurchase arrangements (“ASRs”) with financial institutions beginning in August 2012. In exchange for up-front payments, the financial institutions deliver shares of the Company’s common stock during the purchase periods of each ASR. The total number of shares ultimately delivered, and therefore the average repurchase price paid per share, will be determined at the end of the applicable purchase period of each ASR based on the volume weighted-average price of the Company’s common stock during that period. The shares received are retired in the periods they are delivered, and the up-front payments are accounted for as a reduction to shareholders’ equity in the Company’s Consolidated Balance Sheet in the periods the payments are made. The Company reflects the ASRs as a repurchase of common stock in the period delivered for purposes of calculating earnings per share and as forward contracts indexed to its own common stock. The ASRs met all of the applicable criteria for equity classification, and therefore, were not accounted for as derivative instruments.

The following table presents the Company’s ASRs:

 

     Purchase
Period End
Date		     Number of
Shares
(in thousands)		     Average
Repurchase
Price Per
Share		     ASR
Amount
(in millions)		  

August 2014 ASR

           (1)      59,924  (1)           (1)    $ 9,000   

January 2014 ASR

           (1)      134,247  (1)           (1)    $ 12,000   

April 2013 ASR

      March 2014        172,548  (2)    $ 69.55      $ 12,000   

August 2012 ASR

      April 2013        28,544      $ 68.31      $ 1,950   

 

  (1)

“Number of Shares” represents those shares delivered in advance of settlement and does not represent the final number of shares to be delivered under the ASRs. The total number of shares ultimately delivered, and therefore the average repurchase price paid per share, will be determined at the end of the applicable purchase period based on the volume weighted-average price of the Company’s common stock during that period. The August 2014 ASR and January 2014 ASR purchase periods will end in or before February 2015 and December 2014, respectively.

  

 

  (2)

Includes 8.0 million shares that were delivered and retired at the end of the purchase period, which concluded in the second quarter of 2014.

  

 

Additionally, the Company repurchased shares of its common stock in the open market, which were retired upon repurchase, during the periods presented as follows:

 

     Number of
Shares
(in thousands)		      Average
Repurchase
Price Per
Share		      Amount
(in millions)		  
2014:         

Fourth quarter

      81,255       $ 98.46       $ 8,000   

Third quarter

      58,661       $ 85.23         5,000   

Second quarter

      79,749       $ 75.24         6,000   

First quarter

      66,847       $ 74.79         5,000   
  

 

 

        

 

 

  

Total

      286,512          $ 24,000   
  

 

 

        

 

 

  
        
2013:         

Fourth quarter

      73,064       $ 68.43       $ 5,000   

Third quarter

      62,676       $ 63.82         4,000   

Second quarter

      0       $ 0         0   

First quarter

      0       $ 0         0   
  

 

 

        

 

 

  

Total

      135,740          $ 9,000