v3.3.1.900
Shareholders' Equity
 3 Months Ended
Dec. 26, 2015
Shareholders' Equity

Note 7 – Shareholders’ Equity

Dividends

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

 

                                                 
     Dividends
Per Share		      Amount
(in millions)		  

2016:

      

First quarter

    $ 0.52       $ 2,898   
               

2015:

      

Fourth quarter

    $ 0.52       $ 2,950   

Third quarter

      0.52         2,997   

Second quarter

      0.47         2,734   

First quarter

      0.47         2,750   
  

 

 

     

 

 

  

Total cash dividends declared and paid

    $ 1.98       $ 11,431   
  

 

 

     

 

 

  

Future dividends are subject to declaration by the Board of Directors.

 

Share Repurchase Program

In 2015, the Company’s Board of Directors increased the share repurchase authorization to $140 billion of the Company’s common stock, of which $110 billion had been utilized as of December 26, 2015. 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, and in the future may enter, into accelerated share repurchase arrangements (“ASRs”) with financial institutions. 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, is 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 Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets 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 shows the Company’s ASR activity and related information during the three months ended December 26, 2015 and the year ended September 26, 2015:

 

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

November 2015 ASR

      April 2016         20,382 (1)       $      (1)       $ 3,000   

May 2015 ASR

      July 2015         48,293           $ 124.24       $ 6,000   

August 2014 ASR

      February 2015         81,525           $ 110.40       $ 9,000   

January 2014 ASR

      December 2014         134,247           $ 89.39       $ 12,000   

 

  (1) 

“Number of Shares” represents those shares delivered in the beginning of the purchase period and does not represent the final number of shares to be delivered under the 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 based on the volume-weighted average price of the Company’s common stock during that period. The November 2015 ASR purchase period will end in or before April 2016.

  

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)		  

2016:

         

First quarter

      25,984       $ 115.45       $ 3,000   

    

         

2015:

         

Fourth quarter

      121,802       $ 115.15       $ 14,026   

Third quarter

      31,231       $ 128.08         4,000   

Second quarter

      56,400       $ 124.11         7,000   

First quarter

      45,704       $ 109.40         5,000   
  

 

 

        

 

 

  

Total open market common stock repurchases

      255,137          $ 30,026