Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
The following table includes information about our common stock repurchases during the three-month period ended December 31, 2020.
Period Total Number of Shares Purchased(1) Average Price Paid per Share Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly
Announced Programs(1) Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that may
yet be Purchased Under the Program(1)
October 1, 2020 through October 31, 2020 — $ — —
November 1, 2020 through November 30, 2020 — $ — —
December 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 6,343,100 $ 78.85 6,343,100
Total 6,343,100 $ 78.85 6,343,100 $ 1,897,272,535
(1) On July 25, 2012, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized us to repurchase up to $2.0 billion of our common stock on the open market or in private transactions. The Board of Directors increased this authority by $1.5 billion in each of November 2016 and February 2018, by an additional $2.0 billion in November 2018 and by an additional $1.5 billion in October 2020. During the fourth quarter of 2020, we repurchased approximately 6.3 million shares for $500 million in cash pursuant to this authority through a Rule 10b5-1 purchase plan. The remaining authorization under this program totaled approximately $1.9 billion at December 31, 2020. This program does not have an expiration date.
Market Information and Holders of our Common Stock
Our common stock is listed on the New York, Chicago and SIX Swiss stock exchanges. The New York Stock Exchange is the principal market on which our common stock is traded under the symbol “BAX”. As of January 29, 2021, there were 22,017 holders of record of our common stock.
Performance Graph
The following graph compares the change in our cumulative total stockholder return (including reinvested dividends) on our common stock with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Composite Index and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Health Care Index over the past five years.
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Item 6. Selected Financial Data.
The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes thereto in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and the information contained in Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Unaudited
as of or for the years ended December 31 2020 2019¹ 2018 2017 2016²
Operating Results Net sales $ 11,673 11,362 11,099 10,584 10,133
(in millions) Income from continuing operations $ 1,110 1,011 1,552 609 4,936
Loss from discontinued operations, net of tax $ — — (6) (7) (1)
Net income attributable to Baxter stockholders $ 1,102 1,001 1,546 602 4,935
Earnings per share from continuing operations
Basic $ 2.17 1.97 2.91 1.12 9.04
Diluted $ 2.13 1.93 2.84 1.10 8.96
Loss per share from discontinued
operations
Basic $ — — (0.01) (0.01) —
Diluted $ — — (0.01) (0.02) —
Earnings per share
Basic $ 2.17 1.97 2.90 1.11 9.04
Diluted $ 2.13 1.93 2.83 1.08 8.96
Weighted-average
number of shares outstanding
Basic 509 509 534 543 546
Diluted 517 519 546 555 551
Balance Sheet Information Total assets $ 20,019 18,193 15,720 17,102 15,459
(in millions) Total liabilities $ 11,293 10,281 7,854 7,993 7,238
Total equity $ 8,726 7,912 7,866 9,109 8,221
Long-term debt and finance lease obligations $ 5,786 4,809 3,481 3,512 2,774
Cash Flow Information Cash flows from operations - continuing operations $ 1,870 2,110 2,017 1,730 1,588
(in millions) Cash flows from investing activities - continuing operations $ (1,179) (1,100) (916) (1,292) (716)
Cash flows from financing activities $ (345) 498 (2,603) 93 (324)
Capital expenditures - continuing operations $ (709) (696) (659) (616) (705)
Common Stock Information Cash dividends declared per share $ 0.955 $ 0.850 $ 0.730 $ 0.610 $ 0.505
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1. Income from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2019 included a pre-tax charge of $755 million ($568 million, or $1.09 per diluted share, on an after-tax basis) related to the annuitization of a portion of our U.S. pension plan.
2. Income from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2016 included pre-tax net realized gains of $4.4 billion ($4.4 billion, or $8.07 per diluted share, on an after-tax basis) related to the disposition of our formerly retained shares in Baxalta (Baxalta Retained Shares).
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