Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
8K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown
Item 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our ordinary shares are listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol "PNR." As of December 31, 2017, there were 16,011 shareholders of record.
The high, low and closing sales price for our ordinary shares and the dividends paid for each of the quarterly periods for 2017 and 2016 were as follows:
| 2017 | 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First | Second | Third | Fourth | First | Second | Third | Fourth | ||||||||||||||||||
| High | $ | 63.45 | $ | 69.03 | $ | 68.50 | $ | 71.76 | $ | 54.54 | $ | 63.39 | $ | 66.99 | $ | 64.39 | |||||||||
| Low | 56.53 | 61.61 | 59.13 | 67.27 | 41.57 | 50.37 | 57.20 | 53.80 | |||||||||||||||||
| Close | 62.78 | 66.54 | 67.96 | 70.62 | 54.26 | 58.29 | 64.24 | 56.07 | |||||||||||||||||
| Dividends paid | 0.345 | 0.345 | 0.345 | 0.345 | 0.33 | 0.33 | 0.34 | 0.34 |
Pentair has paid 168 consecutive quarterly dividends. The Board of Directors has approved a plan to increase the dividend for 2018, which will mark the 42nd consecutive year we have increased dividends.
Future dividends on our ordinary shares or reductions of share capital for distribution to shareholders, if any, must be approved by our Board of Directors for payment out of distributable reserves on our statutory balance sheet. We are not permitted to pay dividends out of share capital, which includes share premiums. Distributable reserves may be created through the earnings of the Irish parent company and through a reduction in share capital approved by the Irish High Court. Distributable reserves are not linked to a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") reported amount (e.g., retained earnings). On July 22, 2014, the Irish High Court approved Pentair plc's conversion of approximately $14.4 billion of share premium to distributable reserves. On July 29, 2014, following the approval of the Irish High Court, we made the required filing of Pentair plc's initial accounts with the Irish Companies Registration Office, which completed the process to allow us to pay future cash dividends and redeem and repurchase shares out of Pentair plc's "distributable reserves." Our distributable reserve balance was $9.0 billion and $9.4 billion as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.
The timing, declaration and payment of future dividends to holders of our ordinary shares will depend upon many factors, including our financial condition and results of operations, the capital requirements of our businesses, industry practice and any other relevant factors.
United Kingdom tax considerations
Although our jurisdiction of organization is Ireland, we manage our affairs so that we are centrally managed and controlled in the U.K. and therefore have our tax residency in the U.K.
As a result of its U.K. tax status, dividend distributions by Pentair plc to its shareholders are not subject to withholding tax, as the U.K. currently does not levy a withholding tax on dividend distributions.
See the discussion of "Dividends" under "Liquidity and Capital Resources—Financing Activities" in ITEM 7 of this annual report on Form 10-K for additional information required by this item.
Share Performance Graph
The following information under the caption "Share Performance Graph" in this ITEM 5 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K is not deemed to be "soliciting material" or to be "filed" with the SEC or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), or to the liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act and will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Exchange Act, except to the extent we specifically incorporate it by reference into such a filing.
The following graph sets forth the cumulative total shareholder return on our ordinary shares for the last five years, assuming the investment of $100 on December 31, 2012 and the reinvestment of all dividends since that date to December 31, 2017. The graph also contains for comparison purposes the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Industrials Index, assuming the same investment level and reinvestment of dividends.
By virtue of our market capitalization, we are a component of the S&P 500 Index. On the basis of our size and diversity of businesses, we believe the S&P 500 Industrials Index is an appropriate published industry index for comparison purposes.

| Base Period December | INDEXED RETURNS Years ended December 31 | |||||||||||
| Company / Index | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||||||
| Pentair plc | 100 | 160.70 | 139.55 | 106.31 | 123.32 | 158.68 | ||||||
| S&P 500 Index | 100 | 132.39 | 150.51 | 152.59 | 170.84 | 208.14 | ||||||
| S&P 500 Industrials Index | 100 | 131.64 | 147.91 | 152.19 | 167.59 | 205.41 |
Purchases of Equity Securities
The following table provides information with respect to purchases we made of our ordinary shares during the fourth quarter of 2017:
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | |||||||
| Total number of shares purchased | Average price paid per share | Total number of shares purchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs | Dollar value of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs | |||||||
| October 1 – October 28, 2017 | 1,146 | $ | 67.96 | — | $ | 700,000,054 | ||||
| October 29 – November 25, 2017 | 17,792 | 69.28 | — | 700,000,054 | ||||||
| November 26 – December 31, 2017 | 1,432,297 | 69.80 | 1,432,297 | 600,000,119 | ||||||
| Total | 1,451,235 | 1,432,297 |
| (a) | The purchases in this column include 1,146 shares for the period October 1 – October 28, 2017, 17,792 shares for the period October 29 – November 25, 2017, and no shares for the period November 26 – December 31, 2017 deemed surrendered to us by participants in our 2012 Stock and Incentive Plan (the "2012 Plan") and earlier stock incentive plans that are now outstanding under the 2012 Plan (collectively the "Plans") to satisfy the exercise price or withholding of tax obligations related to the exercise of stock options and vesting of restricted shares. |
| (b) | The average price paid in this column includes shares repurchased as part of our publicly announced plans and shares deemed surrendered to us by participants in the Plans to satisfy the exercise price of stock options and withholding tax obligations due upon stock option exercises and vesting of restricted shares. |
| (c) | The number of shares in this column represents the number of shares repurchased as part of our publicly announced plans to repurchase our ordinary shares up to a maximum dollar limit of $1.0 billion. |
| (d) | In December 2014, our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of our ordinary shares up to a maximum dollar limit of $1.0 billion. This authorization expires on December 31, 2019. We have $600.0 million remaining availability for repurchases under the 2014 authorization. |
Previous: Item 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES · Next: Item 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA