its medium-term notes program, dealer remarketable securities and Convertible Note, are all discussed in more detail in Note 10. 3M has a shelf registration and medium-term notes program through which $1.5 billion of medium-term notes may be offered. In November 2006, the Company issued $400 million under its medium-term notes program. In 2004, the Company issued approximately $62 million in debt securities under this program. The medium-term notes program and shelf registration have remaining capacity of approximately $1.038 billion. The Company’s $350 million of dealer remarketable securities (classified as current portion of long-term debt) were remarketed for one year in December 2006. In addition, the Company has Convertible Notes with a book value of $542 million at December 31, 2006. The next put option date for these Convertible Notes is November 2007. At December 31, 2006, the Convertible Notes, dealer remarketable securities, $62 million of medium-term notes, and $71 million of floating rate notes are classified as current portion of long-term debt as the result of put provisions associated with these debt instruments. For a discussion of accounting pronouncements that will affect accounting treatment for the Convertible Note, refer to Note 1 for discussion of EITF Repurchases of common stock are made to support the Company’s stock-based employee compensation plans and for other corporate purposes. On February 13, 2006, the Board of Directors authorized the purchase of $2.0 billion of the Company’s common stock between February 13, 2006 and February 28, 2007. On August 15, 2006, the Board of Directors authorized an additional $1 billion in share repurchases, raising the total authorization to $3 billion for the period from February 13, 2006 to February 28, 2007. As of December 31, 2006, $748 million remained available for repurchase. Refer to the table captioned “Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities” in Part II, Item 5, for more information.

Cash dividends paid to stockholders totaled $1.376 billion ($1.84 per share) in 2006, $1.286 billion ($1.68 per share) in 2005 and $1.125 billion ($1.44 per share) in 2004. 3M has paid dividends since 1916. Other cash flows from financing activities include distributions to minority interests, changes in cash overdraft balances, and principal payments for capital leases.

Liquidity:

The Company’s liquidity remains strong. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at December 31, 2006, were higher when compared with December 31, 2005, due to the significant pharmaceuticals sales proceeds received in December 2006. Primary short-term liquidity needs are provided through U.S. commercial paper and euro commercial paper issuances. As of December 31, 2006, outstanding total commercial paper issued totaled $1.349 billion and averaged approximately $1.080 billion during 2006. Medium-term note shelf borrowing capacity totaled $1.038 billion as of December 31, 2006. Credit support for outstanding commercial paper is provided by a $565 million credit agreement among a group of primary relationship banks. In March 2005, the Company replaced its 364-day credit agreement with a five-year credit