Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market and Stockholder Information

Our common stock trades on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “BIIB.” As of February 2, 2021, there were approximately 505 shareholders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

We have not paid cash dividends since our inception. While we historically have not paid cash dividends and do not have a current intention to pay cash dividends, we continually review our capital allocation strategies, including, among other things, payment of cash dividends, share repurchases and acquisitions.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table summarizes our common stock repurchase activity during the fourth quarter of 2020:

In October 2020 our Board of Directors authorized our 2020 Share Repurchase Program, which is a program to repurchase up to $5.0 billion of our common stock. Our 2020 Share Repurchase Program does not have an expiration date. All share repurchases under our 2020 Share Repurchase Program will be retired. Under our 2020 Share Repurchase Program, we repurchased and retired approximately 1.6 million shares of our common stock at a cost of approximately $400.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2020.

In December 2019 our Board of Directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $5.0 billion of our common stock (December 2019 Share Repurchase Program), which was completed as of September 30, 2020. All shares repurchased under our December 2019 Share Repurchase Program were retired. Under our December 2019 Share Repurchase Program, we repurchased and retired approximately 16.7 million shares of our common stock at a cost of approximately $5.0 billion during the year ended December 31, 2020.

In March 2019 our Board of Directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $5.0 billion of our common stock (March 2019 Share Repurchase Program), which was completed as of March 31, 2020. All shares repurchased under our March 2019 Share Repurchase Program were retired. Under our March 2019 Share Repurchase Program, we repurchased and retired approximately 4.1 million and 14.7 million shares of our common stock at a cost of approximately $1.3 billion and $3.7 billion during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.

In August 2018 our Board of Directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $3.5 billion of our common stock (2018 Share Repurchase Program), which was completed as of June 30, 2019. All share repurchases under our 2018 Share Repurchase Program were retired. Under our 2018 Share Repurchase Program, we repurchased and retired approximately 8.9 million and 4.3 million shares of our common stock at a cost of approximately $2.1 billion and $1.4 billion during the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

In July 2016 our Board of Directors authorized a program to repurchase up to $5.0 billion of our common stock (2016 Share Repurchase Program), which was completed as of June 30, 2018. All share repurchases under our 2016 Share Repurchase Program were retired. Under our 2016 Share Repurchase Program, we repurchased and retired approximately 10.5 million shares of common stock at a cost of approximately $3.0 billion during the year ended December 31, 2018.

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Performance Graph

The performance graph below compares the five-year cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock, the Nasdaq Pharmaceutical Index, the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index.

On February 1, 2017, we completed the spin-off of our hemophilia business, Bioverativ Inc. (Bioverativ), as an independent, publicly traded company. In connection with the spin-off, each Biogen shareholder received one share of Bioverativ common stock for every two shares of Biogen common stock they owned. For additional information on the spin-off of our hemophilia business, please read Note 3, Hemophilia Spin-Off, to our consolidated financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

The performance graph below assumes the investment of $100.00 on December 31, 2015, in our common stock and each of the three indexes, with dividends being reinvested. Our stock prices have been adjusted for the effect of the spin-off of our hemophilia business. The five-year cumulative total stockholder return for Biogen does not reflect the reinvestment by Biogen shareholders of the distribution they received in connection with the spin-off of our hemophilia business or any subsequent increase or decrease in value of Bioverativ stock subsequent to the spin-off.

The stock price performance in the graph below is not necessarily indicative of future price performance.

The information included under the heading Performance Graph is “furnished” and not “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor shall it be deemed to be “soliciting material” subject to Regulation 14A or incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

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