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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

Market Information for Common Stock

Our common stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol “Q.” The following table sets forth the high and low sales prices per share of our common stock as reported by the NYSE for the periods indicated.

HighLow
Fiscal Year 2014
First Quarter$55.00$45.25
Second Quarter$53.55$46.27
Third Quarter$58.89$53.03
Fourth Quarter$60.79$51.09
HighLow
Fiscal Year 2015
First Quarter$69.97$56.46
Second Quarter$73.82$63.63
Third Quarter$80.45$67.47
Fourth Quarter$72.68$63.62

Holders of Record

On February 4, 2016, we had 40 shareholders of record as reported by our transfer agent. Holders of record are defined as those shareholders whose shares are registered in their names in our stock records and do not include beneficial owners of common stock whose shares are held in the names of brokers, dealers or clearing agencies.

Dividend Policy

We do not currently intend to pay dividends on our common stock, and no dividends were declared or paid in 2015 or 2014. However, we expect to reevaluate our dividend policy on a regular basis and may, subject to compliance with the covenants contained in our credit facilities and other considerations, determine to pay dividends in the future. The declaration, amount and payment of any future dividends on shares of our common stock will be at the sole discretion of our Board, which may take into account general and economic conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our available cash and current and anticipated cash needs, capital requirements, contractual, legal, tax and regulatory restrictions, the implications of the payment of dividends by us to our shareholders or by our subsidiaries to us, and any other factors that our Board may deem relevant. Our long-term debt arrangements contain usual and customary restrictive covenants that, among other things, place limitations on our ability to declare dividends. For additional information regarding these restrictive covenants, see Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” and Note 10 to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities

We did not sell any unregistered equity securities in 2015.

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer

On October 31, 2013, we announced that on October 30, 2013 our Board approved an equity repurchase program, or the Repurchase Program, authorizing the repurchase of up to $125.0 million of either our common stock or vested in-the-money employee stock options, or a combination thereof. During 2015, our Board increased the share repurchase authorization under the Repurchase Program by $600.0 million, which increased the total amount that has been authorized under the Repurchase Program to $725.0 million. The Repurchase Program does not obligate us to repurchase any particular amount of common stock or vested in-the-money employee stock options, and it could be modified, suspended or discontinued at any time. The timing and amount of repurchases are determined by our management based on a variety of factors such as the market price of our common stock, our corporate requirements, and overall market conditions. Purchases of our common stock may be made in open market transactions effected through a broker-dealer at prevailing market prices, in block trades, or in privately negotiated transactions. We may also repurchase shares of our common stock pursuant to a trading plan meeting the requirements of Rule 10b5-1 under the Exchange Act, which would permit shares of our common stock to be repurchased when we might otherwise be precluded from doing so by law. Repurchases of vested in-the-money employee stock options were made through transactions between us and our employees (other than our executive officers, who were not eligible to participate in the program), and this aspect of the Repurchase Program expired in November 2013. The Repurchase Program for common stock does not have an end date.

In 2015, we repurchased 7,855,796 shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $515.0 million under the Repurchase Program. From inception through December 31, 2015, we have repurchased a total of $580.5 million of our securities under the Repurchase Program, consisting of $59.1 million of stock options and $521.4 million of common stock. As of December 31, 2015, we have remaining authorization to repurchase up to $144.5 million of our common stock under the Repurchase Program. In addition, from time to time, we have and may continue to repurchase common stock through private or other transactions outside of the Repurchase Program. For additional information regarding our equity repurchases, see Part II, Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” and Note 12 to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The following table summarizes the equity repurchase program activity for the three months ended December 31, 2015 and the approximate dollar value of shares that may yet be purchased pursuant to the Repurchase Program:

PeriodTotal Number of Shares PurchasedAverage Price Paid per ShareTotal Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or ProgramsApproximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
(in thousands, except share and per share data)
October 1, 2015 – October 31, 2015—$——$109,486
November 1, 2015 – November 30, 2015 (1)3,952,746$66.243,952,746$147,658
December 1, 2015 – December 31, 201548,000$66.3048,000$144,475
4,000,7464,000,746
(1)On November 12, 2015, we completed the repurchase of 3,000,000 shares of our common stock for $66.25 per share from Temasek Life Sciences Private Limited in a private transaction for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $198.8 million. The repurchase price per share of common stock was equal to 98.5% of the closing market price of our common stock on the NYSE on November 10, 2015 (which was $67.26). We funded this private repurchase transaction with cash on hand. The private repurchase transaction was entered into pursuant to the Repurchase Program.

Stock Performance Graph

This performance graph shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or incorporated by reference into any filing of Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. under the Exchange Act or under the Securities Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.

The following graph shows a comparison from May 9, 2013 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the NYSE) through December 31, 2015 of the cumulative total return for our common stock, the Standard & Poor's Healthcare Sector Index, or S&P 500 Healthcare, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index, or S&P 500 Index. The graph assumes that $100 was invested at the market close on May 9, 2013 in the common stock of Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc., the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Healthcare, and assumes reinvestments of dividends, if any. These indices are included for comparative purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect management’s opinion that such indices are an appropriate measure of the relative performance of the stock involved, and they are not intended to forecast or be indicative of possible future performance of our common stock.

5/9/201312/31/201312/31/201412/31/2015
Q$100$110$140$163
S&P 500 Healthcare$100$116$143$151
S&P 500$100$114$127$126

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