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 number of holders of record of our common stock on February 8, 2019 was 8,942.

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.


	12/31/13		12/31/14		12/31/15		12/31/16		12/31/17		12/31/18
Waste Management, Inc.	$	100	$	118	$	127	$	173	$	215	$	226
S&P 500 Index	$	100	$	114	$	115	$	129	$	157	$	150
Dow Jones Waste & Disposal Services Index	$	100	$	114	$	119	$	144	$	168	$	168

The Company repurchases shares of its common stock as part of capital allocation programs authorized by our Board of Directors. We announced in December 2017 that the Board of Directors authorized up to $1.25 billion in future share repurchases. During 2018, we repurchased an aggregate of $1,008 million of our common stock under accelerated share repurchase (“ASR”) agreements and open market repurchases, which equated to 11.7 million shares with a weighted average price per share of $86.35. See Note 13 to the Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information.

The following table summarizes common stock repurchases made during the fourth quarter of 2018 (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	2.8	$	89.60	(a)	2.8	$	252 million
November 1 — 30	—	$	—		—	$	252 million
December 1 — 31	0.5	$	88.88	(b)	0.5	$	1.5 billion	(c)
Total	3.3	$	89.49		3.3

	(a)		In October 2018, we completed an ASR agreement that was entered into in July 2018 to repurchase $200 million of our common stock. At the beginning of the repurchase period, we delivered $200 million in cash and received 1.8 million shares. The ASR agreement completed in October 2018, at which time we received 0.4 million additional shares. At the beginning of October, subsequent to the completion of the July 2018 ASR agreement, we repurchased 0.5 million shares of our common stock in open market transactions in compliance with Rule 10b5-1 and Rule 10b‑18 of the Exchange Act for $48 million, inclusive of per-share commissions.

At the end of October 2018, we entered into a new ASR agreement to repurchase $200 million of our common stock. At the beginning of the repurchase period, we delivered $200 million in cash and received 1.9 million shares. The October 2018 ASR agreement completed in December 2018.

The “Average Price Paid per Share” in the table represents the final weighted average price per share paid for the completed ASR agreements and the open market repurchases.

	(b)		In December 2018, we completed the October 2018 ASR agreement discussed above at which time we received 0.4 million additional shares. Subsequent to the completion of the October 2018 ASR agreement, we repurchased an additional 0.1 million shares of our common stock in open market transactions in compliance with Rule 10b5-1 and Rule 10b-18 of the Exchange Act for $10 million, inclusive of per-share commissions. The “Average Price Paid per Share” in the table represents the final weighted average price per share paid for the completed ASR agreement and the open market repurchases.

	(c)		We announced in December 2018 that the Board of Directors has authorized up to $1.5 billion in future share repurchases, which supersedes and replaces remaining authority under any prior Board of Directors authorization for share repurchases after the completion of our current open market repurchase plan ending February 15, 2019.

Any future share repurchases will be made at the discretion of management and will depend on various factors including our net earnings, financial condition, cash required for future business plans, and growth and acquisitions.

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