Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

None.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers

Stock Repurchase Program

In October 2015, the Company's Board of Directors approved an increase of $400 million to the stock repurchase program (the "Program") under which the Company can repurchase AES common stock. The Board authorization permits the Company to repurchase stock through a variety of methods, including open market repurchases and/or privately negotiated transactions. There can be no assurances as to the amount, timing or prices of repurchases, which may vary based on market conditions and other factors. The Program does not have an expiration date and can be modified or terminated by the Board of Directors at any time. During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company repurchased 39.7 million shares of its common stock at a total cost of $482 million under the existing stock repurchase program. The cumulative repurchase from the commencement of the Program in July 2010 through December 31, 2015 is 145.6 million shares at a total cost of $1.8 billion, at an average price per share of $12.31 (including a nominal amount of commissions).

The following table presents information regarding repurchases made by The AES Corporation of its common stock in the fourth quarter of 2015.

(1) Includes 20,250 shares purchased by an executive of the Company in November 2015 that were not under the publicly announced stock repurchase program.

Market Information

Our common stock is currently traded on the NYSE under the symbol "AES." The closing price of our common stock as reported by the NYSE on February 18, 2016, was $9.70 per share. The Company repurchased 39,684,131, 21,900,246, and 25,297,042 shares of its common stock in 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The following tables present the high and low intraday sale prices of our common stock and cash dividends declared for the periods indicated:

Dividends

The Company commenced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.04 per share beginning in the fourth quarter of 2012, which increased to $0.05 per share beginning in the fourth quarter of 2013, and increased to $0.10 per share in the fourth quarter of 2014. During the fourth quarter of 2015, the Board of Directors voted to increase the quarterly dividend to $0.11 per share, beginning in the first quarter of 2016. There can be no assurance that the AES Board will declare a dividend in the future or, if declared, the amount of any dividend. Our ability to pay dividends will also depend on receipt of dividends from our various subsidiaries across our portfolio.

Under the terms of our senior secured credit facility, which we entered into with a commercial bank syndicate, we have limitations on our ability to pay cash dividends and/or repurchase stock. Our subsidiaries' ability to declare and pay cash dividends to us is also subject to certain limitations contained in the project loans, governmental provisions and other agreements to which our subsidiaries are subject. See the information contained under Item 12.—Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters—Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans of this Form 10-K.

Holders

As of February 18, 2016, there were approximately 4,702 record holders of our common stock.

Performance Graph

THE AES CORPORATION

PEER GROUP INDEX/STOCK PRICE PERFORMANCE

Source: Bloomberg

We have selected the Standard and Poor's ("S&P") 500 Utilities Index as our peer group index. The S&P 500 Utilities Index is a published sector index comprising the 31 electric and gas utilities included in the S&P 500.

The five year total return chart assumes $100 invested on December 31, 2010 in AES Common Stock, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Utilities Index. The information included under the heading Performance Graph shall not be considered "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.