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 — The Board authorization permits the Parent 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. The cumulative repurchase from the commencement of the Program in July 2010 through December 31, 2017 is 154.3 million shares at a total cost of $1.9 billion, at an average price per share of $12.12 (including a nominal amount of commissions). As of December 31, 2017, $246 million remained available for repurchase under the Program. No repurchases were made by The AES Corporation of its common stock during the year ended December 31, 2017. The Parent Company repurchased 8,686,983 and 39,684,131 shares of its common stock in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Market Information

Our common stock is traded on the NYSE under the symbol "AES." The closing price of our common stock as reported by the NYSE on February 21, 2018, was $10.23 per share. The following tables present the high and low intraday sale prices of our common stock and cash dividends declared for the indicated periods.

Dividends

The Parent Company commenced a quarterly cash dividend in the fourth quarter of 2012. The Parent Company has increased this dividend annually and the cash dividend for the last three years are displayed below.

The fourth quarter 2017 cash dividend is to be paid in the first quarter of 2018. 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 21, 2018, there were approximately 4,120 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 28 electric and gas utilities included in the S&P 500.

The five year total return chart assumes $100 invested on December 31, 2012 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.