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

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

Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DVA. The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low sales prices for our common stock as reported by the New York Stock Exchange.



	High		Low
Year ended December 31, 2017:
1st quarter	$	70.14	$	62.24
2nd quarter	70.16		61.48
3rd quarter	66.64		55.59
4th quarter	72.93		52.51
Year ended December 31, 2016:
1st quarter	$	74.18	$	61.36
2nd quarter	78.00		72.31
3rd quarter	78.77		62.76
4th quarter	67.44		54.50

The closing price of our common stock on January 31, 2018 was $78.04 per share. According to Computershare, our registrar and transfer agent, as of January 31, 2018, there were 9,207 holders of record of our common stock. We have not declared or paid cash dividends to holders of our common stock since 1994. We have no current plans to pay cash dividends and we are restricted from paying dividends under the terms of our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our senior notes. See “Liquidity and capital resources” under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

Stock Repurchases

The following table summarizes our repurchases of our common stock during the fourth quarter of 2017:



Period	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs(1)	Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (in millions)
October 1 - October 31, 2017	5,457,839	$	59.90	5,457,839	$	1,254.3
November 1 - November 30, 2017	431,645	$	60.10	431,645	$	1,228.4
December 1 - December 31, 2017	1,520,365	$	71.87	1,520,365	$	1,119.1
Total	7,409,849	$	62.37	7,409,849	$	1,119.1


(1)	On October 10, 2017, our Board of Directors approved an additional share repurchase authorization in the amount of $1.3 billion. This share repurchase authorization was in addition to the $247 million remaining at that time under our Board of Directors’ prior share repurchase authorization announced in July 2016. We are authorized to make purchases from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, including without limitations, through accelerated share repurchase transactions, derivative transactions, tender offers, Rule 10b5-1 plans or any combination of the foregoing, depending upon market conditions and other considerations. During the quarter ended December 31, 2017, we repurchased a total of 7,409,849 shares of our common stock for approximately $462 million at an average price of $62.37 per share. As of February 22, 2018, we have a total of $1.0 billion remaining in Board authorizations available for share repurchases under our repurchase programs. Although these share repurchase authorizations have no expiration dates, we are subject to share repurchase limitations under the terms of our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our senior notes.

(1)

On October 10, 2017, our Board of Directors approved an additional share repurchase authorization in the amount of $1.3 billion. This share repurchase authorization was in addition to the $247 million remaining at that time under our Board of Directors’ prior share repurchase authorization announced in July 2016. We are authorized to make purchases from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, including without limitations, through accelerated share repurchase transactions, derivative transactions, tender offers, Rule 10b5-1 plans or any combination of the foregoing, depending upon market conditions and other considerations. During the quarter ended December 31, 2017, we repurchased a total of 7,409,849 shares of our common stock for approximately $462 million at an average price of $62.37 per share. As of February 22, 2018, we have a total of $1.0 billion remaining in Board authorizations available for share repurchases under our repurchase programs. Although these share repurchase authorizations have no expiration dates, we are subject to share repurchase limitations under the terms of our senior secured credit facilities and the indentures governing our senior notes.

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