Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
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Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol AMT. As of February 20, 2019, we had 441,134,906 outstanding shares of common stock and 145 registered holders.
Dividends
As a REIT, we must annually distribute to our stockholders an amount equal to at least 90% of our REIT taxable income (determined before the deduction for distributed earnings and excluding any net capital gain). Generally, we have distributed and expect to continue to distribute all or substantially all of our REIT taxable income after taking into consideration our utilization of net operating losses (“NOLs”).
The amount, timing and frequency of future distributions will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend upon various factors, a number of which may be beyond our control, including our financial condition and operating cash flows, the amount required to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT and reduce any income and excise taxes that we otherwise would be required to pay, limitations on distributions in our existing and future debt and preferred equity instruments, our ability to utilize NOLs to offset our distribution requirements, limitations on our ability to fund distributions using cash generated through our TRSs and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant.
Performance Graph
This performance graph is furnished and shall not be deemed ‘‘filed’’ with the SEC or subject to Section 18 of the Exchange Act, nor shall it be deemed incorporated by reference in any of our filings under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock with the cumulative total return of the S&P 500 Index, the Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Equipment Index and the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index. The performance graph assumes that on December 31, 2013, $100 was invested in each of our common stock, the S&P 500 Index, the Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Equipment Index and the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index. The cumulative return shown in the graph assumes reinvestment of all dividends. The performance of our common stock reflected below is not necessarily indicative of future performance.

| Cumulative Total Returns | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12/13 | 12/14 | 12/15 | 12/16 | 12/17 | 12/18 | |||||||||||||||||||
| American Tower Corporation | $ | 100.00 | $ | 125.76 | $ | 125.76 | $ | 139.86 | $ | 192.57 | $ | 218.22 | ||||||||||||
| S&P 500 Index | 100.00 | 113.69 | 115.26 | 129.05 | 157.22 | 150.33 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Equipment Index | 100.00 | 115.21 | 102.76 | 122.43 | 150.65 | 163.51 | ||||||||||||||||||
| FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index | 100.00 | 128.03 | 131.64 | 143.00 | 155.41 | 149.12 |
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
In March 2011, our Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program, pursuant to which we are authorized to repurchase up to $1.5 billion of our common stock (the “2011 Buyback”). In addition to the 2011 Buyback, in December 2017, our Board of Directors approved an additional stock repurchase program, pursuant to which we are authorized to repurchase up to $2.0 billion of our common stock (the “2017 Buyback”, and together with the 2011 Buyback the “Buyback Programs”).
During the three months ended December 31, 2018, we repurchased a total of 301,946 shares of our common stock for an aggregate of $43.6 million, including commissions and fees, pursuant to the 2011 Buyback. We had no repurchases under the 2017 Buyback. The table below sets forth details of our repurchases under the 2011 Buyback during the three months ended December 31, 2018.
| Period | Total Number of Shares Purchased (1) | Average Price Paid per Share (2) | Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs | Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs | ||||||||||
| (in millions) | ||||||||||||||
| October 1, 2018 - October 31, 2018 | 301,946 | $ | 144.35 | 301,946 | $ | 112.0 | ||||||||
| November 1, 2018 - November 30, 2018 | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | ||||||||
| December 1, 2018 - December 31, 2018 | — | $ | — | — | $ | — | ||||||||
| Total Fourth Quarter | 301,946 | $ | 144.35 | 301,946 | $ | 112.0 |
| (1) | Repurchases made pursuant to the 2011 Buyback. Under this program, our management is authorized to purchase shares from time to time through open market purchases or privately negotiated transactions at prevailing prices as permitted by securities laws and other legal requirements, and subject to market conditions and other factors. To facilitate repurchases, we make purchases pursuant to trading plans under Rule 10b5-1 of the Exchange Act, which allows us to repurchase shares during periods when we otherwise might be prevented from doing so under insider trading laws or because of self-imposed trading blackout periods. This program may be discontinued at any time. |
| (2) | Average price paid per share is a weighted average calculation using the aggregate price, excluding commissions and fees. |
We have repurchased a total of 14.0 million shares of our common stock under the 2011 Buyback for an aggregate of $1.4 billion, including commissions and fees. We expect to continue to manage the pacing of the remaining $2.1 billion under the Buyback Programs in response to general market conditions and other relevant factors. We expect to fund any further repurchases of our common stock through a combination of cash on hand, cash generated by operations and borrowings under our credit facilities. Purchases under the Buyback Programs are subject to our having available cash to fund repurchases.
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