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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

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Our Class B Common Stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UHS. Shares of our Class A, Class C and Class D Common Stock are not traded in any public market, but are each convertible into shares of our Class B Common Stock on a share-for-share basis.

The table below sets forth, for the quarters indicated, the high and low reported closing sales prices per share reported on the New York Stock Exchange for our Class B Common Stock for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017:

20182017
High-Low Sales PriceHigh-Low Sales Price
Quarter:
1st$127.27-$110.15$126.65-$106.71
2nd$122.04-$111.44$125.07-$112.33
3rd$130.16-$110.98$125.00-$105.37
4th$137.99-$113.42$115.06-$95.77

The number of stockholders of record as of January 31, 2019, were as follows:

Class A Common14
Class B Common806
Class C Common1
Class D Common98

Stock Repurchase Programs

In December of 2018, our Board of Directors authorized a $500 million increase to our stock repurchase program, which increased the aggregate authorization to $1.7 billion from the previous $1.2 billion authorization approved during 2017, 2016 and 2014. Pursuant to this program, we may purchase shares of our Class B Common Stock, from time to time as conditions allow, on the open market or in negotiated private transactions. There is no expiration date for our stock repurchase programs.

As reflected below, during the three-month period ended December 31, 2018, we have repurchased approximately 1.2 million shares at an aggregate cost of approximately $149.3 million pursuant to the terms of our stock repurchase program. In addition, 26,198 shares were repurchased in connection with income tax withholding obligations resulting from the exercise of stock options and the vesting of restricted stock grants.

During the period of October 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, we repurchased the following shares:

Additional Dollars Authorized For Repurchase (in thousands)Total number of shares purchasedTotal number of shares cancelledAverage price paid per share for forfeited restricted sharesTotal Number of shares purchased as part of publicly announced programsAverage price paid per share for shares purchased as part of publicly announced programAggregate purchase price paid (in thousands)Maximum number of dollars that may yet be purchased under the program (in thousands)
October, 2018—1,006795$0.01—N/A—$111,618
November, 2018—21,561796$0.01—N/A—$111,618
December, 2018$500,0001,224,8521,458$0.011,221,221$122.23$149,274$462,344
Total October through December$500,0001,247,4193,049$0.011,221,221$122.23$149,274

Dividends

During the two years ending December 31, 2018, dividends per share were declared and paid as follows:

20182017
First quarter$.10$.10
Second quarter$.10$.10
Third quarter$.10$.10
Fourth quarter$.10$.10
Total$.40$.40

Our Credit Agreement contains covenants that include limitations on, among other things, dividends and stock repurchases (see below in Capital Resources-Credit Facilities and Outstanding Debt Securities).

Equity Compensation

Refer to Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters, of this report for information regarding securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans.

Stock Price Performance Graph

The following graph compares the cumulative total stockholder return on our common stock with the cumulative total return on the stock included in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and a Peer Group Index during the five year period ended December 31, 2018. The graph assumes an investment of $100 made in our common stock and each Index as of January 1, 2014 and has been weighted based on market capitalization. Note that our common stock price performance shown below should not be viewed as being indicative of future performance.

Companies in the peer group, which consist of companies in the S&P 500 Index or S&P MidCap 400 Index are as follows: Acadia Healthcare Co., Inc., Community Health Systems, Inc., HCA Healthcare, Inc., Health Management Associates, Inc. (included in January, 2014 when it was acquired by Community Health Systems, Inc.), LifePoint Health, Inc. (included until November, 2018, when it was acquired by Apollo Management) and Tenet Healthcare Corporation.

Company Name / Index2013 Base20142015201620172018
Universal Health Services, Inc.$100.00$137.33$147.96$132.16$141.32$145.79
S&P 500 Index$100.00$113.69$115.26$129.05$157.22$150.33
Peer Group$100.00$140.92$119.66$107.88$122.47$166.09

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