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.

Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “WM.” The following table sets forth the range of the high and low per share sales prices for our common stock as reported on the NYSE:


	High		Low
2016
First Quarter	$	59.99	$	50.36
Second Quarter		66.27		56.06
Third Quarter		70.49		62.42
Fourth Quarter		71.71		61.09

2017
First Quarter	$	73.90	$	69.00
Second Quarter		74.57		70.10
Third Quarter		78.80		73.18
Fourth Quarter		86.89		75.87

2018
First Quarter (through February 8, 2018)	$	89.73	$	78.89

On February 8, 2018, the closing sales price as reported on the NYSE was $79.12 per share. The number of holders of record of our common stock on February 8, 2018 was 9,248.

The graph below shows the relative investment performance of Waste Management, Inc. common stock, the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Waste & Disposal Services Index for the last five years, assuming reinvestment of dividends at date of payment into the common stock. The graph is presented pursuant to SEC rules and is not meant to be an indication of our future performance.

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	12/31/12		12/31/13		12/31/14		12/31/15		12/31/16		12/31/17
Waste Management, Inc.	$	100	$	138	$	163	$	174	$	238	$	296
S&P 500 Index	$	100	$	132	$	151	$	153	$	171	$	208
Dow Jones Waste & Disposal Services Index	$	100	$	125	$	142	$	148	$	179	$	210

Our quarterly dividends have been declared by our Board of Directors. Cash dividends declared and paid were $750 million in 2017, or $1.70 per common share, $726 million in 2016, or $1.64 per common share, and $695 million in 2015, or $1.54 per common share.

In December 2017, we announced that our Board of Directors expects to increase the quarterly dividend from $0.425 to $0.465 per share for dividends declared in 2018. However, all future dividend declarations are at the discretion of the Board of Directors and depend on various factors, including our net earnings, financial condition, cash required for future business plans and other factors the Board of Directors may deem relevant.

The Company repurchases shares of its common stock as part of capital allocation programs authorized by our Board of Directors. We announced in December 2016 that the Board of Directors authorized up to $750 million in future share repurchases. During 2017, we repurchased an aggregate of $750 million of our common stock under accelerated share repurchase (“ASR”) agreements. We received a total of 9.7 million shares pursuant to these ASR agreements with a weighted average per share purchase price of $77.67. See Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

The following table summarizes common stock repurchases made during the fourth quarter of 2017 (shares in millions):

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities


						Total Number of
	Total					Shares Purchased as		Approximate Maximum
	Number of		Average			Part of Publicly		Dollar Value of Shares that
	Shares		Price Paid			Announced Plans or		May Yet be Purchased Under
Period	Purchased		per Share			Programs		the Plans or Programs
October 1 — 31	—		$	—		—		$	—
November 1 — 30	—		$	—		—		$	—
December 1 — 31	1.0	(a)	$	79.47	(a)	1.0	(a)	$	1.25 billion	(b)
Total	1.0		$	79.47		1.0

	(a)		In August 2017, we entered into an ASR agreement to repurchase $500 million of our common stock, and the “Average Price Paid per Share” in the table above is the final weighted average per share purchase price paid for all shares repurchased pursuant to the ASR agreement. At the beginning of the repurchase period, we delivered $500 million in cash and received 5.3 million shares based on a stock price of $75.25 per share. The ASR agreement completed in December 2017, at which time we received 1.0 million additional shares.

	(b)		We announced in December 2017 that the Board of Directors has authorized up to $1.25 billion in future share repurchases.

Any future share repurchases will be made at the discretion of management and will depend on factors similar to those considered by the Board of Directors in making dividend declarations.

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