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

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

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Market Information

Berkshire’s Class A and Class B common stock are listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange, trading symbol: BRK.A and BRK.B. The following table sets forth the high and low sales prices per share, as reported on the New York Stock Exchange Composite List during the periods indicated:


	2017								2016
	Class A				Class B				Class A				Class B
	High		Low		High		Low		High		Low		High		Low
First Quarter	$	266,445	$	237,983	$	177.86	$	158.61	$	215,130	$	186,900	$	143.40	$	123.55
Second Quarter		257,944		242,180		171.95		160.93		221,985		205,074		148.03		136.65
Third Quarter		275,945		252,254		184.00		168.00		226,490		211,500		151.05		140.95
Fourth Quarter		301,000		270,250		200.50		180.44		250,786		213,030		167.25		141.92

Shareholders

Berkshire had approximately 2,100 record holders of its Class A common stock and 19,800 record holders of its Class B common stock at February 12, 2018. Record owners included nominees holding at least 410,000 shares of Class A common stock and 1,339,000,000 shares of Class B common stock on behalf of beneficial-but-not-of-record owners.

Dividends

Berkshire has not declared a cash dividend since 1967.

Common Stock Repurchase Program

Berkshire’s Board of Directors has approved a common stock repurchase program permitting Berkshire to repurchase its Class A and Class B shares at prices no higher than a 20% premium over the book value of the shares. The program allows share repurchases in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions and does not specify a maximum number of shares to be repurchased. There were no share repurchases under the program in 2017.

Stock Performance Graph

The following chart compares the subsequent value of $100 invested in Berkshire common stock on December 31, 2012 with a similar investment in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index and in the Standard & Poor’s Property – Casualty Insurance Index.**

LOGO

*	Cumulative return for the Standard & Poor’s indices based on reinvestment of dividends.

**	It would be difficult to develop a peer group of companies similar to Berkshire. The Corporation owns subsidiaries engaged in a number of diverse business activities of which the most important is the property and casualty insurance business and, accordingly, management has used the Standard & Poor’s Property—Casualty Insurance Index for comparative purposes.

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

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