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

The information required by Item 5 with respect to securities authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans is incorporated herein by reference to Part III, Item 12 of this Form 10-K.

The Company's Common Stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, "HUBB".

The number of common shareholders of record on December 31, 2018 was 1,722.

Our dividends are declared at the discretion of our Board of Directors. In October 2018, the Company’s Board of Directors approved an increase in the common stock dividend rate from $0.77 to $0.84 per share per quarter. The increased quarterly dividend payment commenced with the December 14, 2018 payment made to the shareholders of record on November 30, 2018.

Purchases of Equity Securities

On October 20, 2017, the Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program (the “October 2017 program”) that authorized the repurchase of up to $400 million of Common Stock and expires on October 20, 2020. In the twelve months ended December 31, 2018, the Company repurchased shares for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $40.0 million. As a result, our remaining share repurchase authorization under the October 2017 program is $360.0 million. Subject to numerous factors, including market conditions and alternative uses of cash, we may conduct discretionary repurchases through open market or privately negotiated transactions, which may include repurchases under plans complying with Rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

The following table summarizes the Company's repurchase activity of Common Stock during the quarter ended December 31, 2018:

Corporate Performance Graph

The following graph compares the total return to shareholders on the Company’s common stock during the five years ended December 31, 2018, with a cumulative total return on the (i) Standard & Poor’s MidCap 400 (“S&P MidCap 400”) and (ii) the Dow Jones U.S. Electrical Components & Equipment Index (“DJUSEC”). The Company is a member of the S&P MidCap 400. As of December 31, 2018, the DJUSEC reflects a group of fourteen company stocks in the electrical components and equipment market segment, and serves as the Company’s peer group for purposes of this graph. The comparison assumes $100 was invested on December 31, 2013 in the Company’s Common Stock and in each of the foregoing indices and assumes reinvestment of dividends.

COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN*

Among Hubbell Incorporated, the S&P Midcap 400 Index, and the Dow Jones US Electrical Components & Equipment Index

In 2015, the Company completed the reclassification of its dual class of common stock into a single class of Common Stock. The Hubbell Incorporated line above uses the weighted average of Hubbell Class A and Class B shares for the annual period from December 2013 through December 2014.