Document

Exhibit 4.2


DESCRIPTION OF THE REGISTRANT’S SECURITIES
REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12 OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 


As of December 28, 2019, Tractor Supply Company had one class of securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended: our common stock. 


In this Exhibit 4.2, when we refer to the “Company,” “we,” “us” or “our” or when we otherwise refer to ourselves, we mean Tractor Supply Company, excluding, unless otherwise expressly stated, our subsidiaries and affiliates.


The following description is a summary of the material terms of our Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) and our Fifth Amended and Restated By-laws (the “By-laws”) as currently in effect. This description is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by reference to, our Certificate of Incorporation and our By-laws, each of which are incorporated by reference as an exhibit to the Annual Report on Form 10-K of which this Exhibit 4.2 is a part. We encourage you to read our Certificate of Incorporation, our By-laws and the applicable provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), for additional information.


Authorized Capital 
As of December 28, 2019, our authorized capital stock consisted of 400,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $.008 per share, and 40,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $1.00 per share, of which 20,000 is designated Series B Preferred Stock. 


Common Stock 
Voting Rights. Under the terms of the Certificate of Incorporation, each holder of common stock is entitled to one vote for each share on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders, including the election of directors. Our stockholders do not have cumulative voting rights. Because of this, the holders of a majority of the shares of common stock entitled to vote and present in person or by proxy at any annual meeting of stockholders are able to elect all of the directors standing for election, if they should so choose. 


Dividends. Subject to preferences that may be applicable to any then outstanding preferred stock, holders of common stock are entitled to receive ratably those dividends, if any, as may be declared from time to time by the Board of Directors out of legally available assets or funds. 


Liquidation. In the event of our liquidation, dissolution, or winding up, holders of common stock are entitled to share ratably in the net assets legally available for distribution to stockholders after the payment of all of our debts and other liabilities and the satisfaction of any liquidation preference granted to the holders of any outstanding shares of preferred stock. 


Rights and Preferences. Holders of common stock have no preemptive or conversion rights, and there are no redemption or sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock. The rights, preferences, and privileges of the holders of common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of shares of any series of preferred stock, which we may designate in the future. 


Board of Directors
The By-laws provide for a Board of Directors of not less than one member, the exact number to be determined from time to time by resolution adopted by the affirmative vote of a majority of the total number of directors then in office. The By-laws provide that directors will be elected to hold office for a term expiring at the next annual meeting of stockholders or until a successor is duly elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal. In uncontested director elections each director is elected by the vote of the majority of the votes cast; provided, however, that in a contested election, the directors shall be elected by a plurality of the votes of the shares present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting and entitled to vote on the election of directors. An incumbent nominee not receiving a majority of the votes cast in an uncontested election shall promptly tender his or her offer of resignation to the Board of Directors for its consideration if such director has not previously submitted a 








conditional offer of resignation. A recommendation on whether or not to accept such resignation offer shall be made by a committee of independent directors that has been delegated the responsibility of recommending nominees for director for appointment or election to the Board of Directors, or (1) if each member of such committee did not receive the required majority vote or (2) if no such committee has been appointed, a majority of the Board of Directors shall appoint a special committee of independent directors for such purpose of making a recommendation to the Board of Directors. If no independent directors received the required majority vote, the Board of Directors shall act on the resignation offers.


Amendment to By-laws 
The Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws provide that the Board of Directors is expressly authorized to alter, amend or repeal the By-laws of the Company by the affirmative vote of a majority of the total number of directors then in office. Any amendment, alteration, change, addition or repeal of the By-laws of the Company by the stockholders of the Company shall require the affirmative vote of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of the Company, voting together as a class, entitled to vote on such amendment, alteration, change, addition or repeal. 


Amendment to Certificate of Incorporation 
The Certificate of Incorporation provides that, except where a Supermajority Vote (as defined below) is required, the affirmative vote of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding stock entitled to vote thereon, voting together in a single class, is required to adopt any provision inconsistent with, to amend or repeal any provision of, or to adopt a bylaw inconsistent with certain specified provisions of the Certificate of Incorporation. The affirmative vote of the holders of at least sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66-2/3%) of the voting power of all of the then-outstanding shares of the voting stock, voting together as a single class (a “Supermajority Vote”), shall be required to amend, alter, change or repeal any provision of the Certificate of Incorporation related to (a) the number of directors constituting the Board of Directors as set forth in the By-laws; (b) the election of directors at each annual meeting and that such directors will hold office for a term expiring at the next annual meeting or until their successors are elected and qualified or until their earlier resignation or removal; (c) the authority of the Board of Directors to make, alter, amend or repeal the By-laws; (d) the fact that the election of the directors need not be by written ballot; and (e) that advance notice of stockholder nominations for the election of directors and of business to be brought by the stockholders before any meeting of the stockholders shall be given in the manner provided in the By-laws. 


Special Meetings of Stockholders
The By-laws provide that special meetings of stockholders of the Company may be called only by Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer, the President or, at the direction of a majority of the Board of Directors, the Secretary. 


Action on Written Consent 
Pursuant to the Certificate of Incorporation and the By-laws, any action required by law or the By-laws to be taken at any annual or special meeting of stockholders of the Company may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote if a consent or consents in writing, setting forth the action so taken, are signed by the holders of outstanding stock having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares entitled to vote thereon were present and voted and are delivered to the Company as required by law. Prompt notice of the taking of the corporate action without a meeting by less than unanimous written consent shall be given to those stockholders who have not so consented in writing.










Advance Notice Requirements for Stockholder Proposals and Director Nominations 
Our By-laws provide that stockholders seeking to nominate candidates for election as directors or to bring business before an annual or special meeting of stockholders must provide timely notice of their proposal in writing to the secretary of the Company. Generally, to be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be delivered to, mailed and received at our principal executive offices, addressed to the secretary of the Company, and within the following time periods: 
						
	•	in the case of an annual meeting, no earlier than 120 days and no later than 90 days prior to the first anniversary of the date of the preceding year’s annual meeting; provided, however, that in the event that no annual meeting was held in the previous year or the date of the current year’s annual meeting shall have been changed by more than 30 days from the anniversary date of the previous year’s annual meeting, to be timely notice by the stockholder must be received by the Company not later than the later of (i) the ninetieth day prior to such current year’s annual meeting or (ii) the tenth day following (1) the day on which the notice containing the date of the current year’s annual meeting is provided by the Company or (2) public disclosure of the current year’s annual meeting date was made, whichever first occurs; provided further, however, that any such notice which is received later than the fifth business day prior to the meeting may be disregarded; and




						
	•	in the case of a nomination of a person or persons for election to the Board of Directors at a special meeting of the stockholders called for the purpose of electing directors, not earlier than the 120th day prior to such special meeting and not later than the later of (i) the ninetieth day prior to such special meeting or (ii) the tenth day following (1) the day on which the notice containing the date of the special meeting is provided by the Company or (2) public disclosure of the special meeting date was made, whichever first
occurs; provided, however, that any such notice which is received later than the fifth business day prior to the meeting may be disregarded.


In no event shall an
In no event shall any adjournment, postponement or deferral, or public disclosure of an adjournment, postponement or deferral, of a meeting of the stockholders commence a new time period (or extend any time period) for the giving of the stockholder’s notice. 


We have also adopted a proxy access right that permits a stockholder, or a group of up to 20 stockholders, owning continuously for at least three years shares of our stock representing an aggregate of at least 3% of the outstanding shares of common stock, to nominate and include in our proxy materials a number of director nominees constituting the greater of (i) 20% of the total number of directors of the Company on the last day on which a nomination notice may be submitted pursuant to Section 1.2 of the Certificate of Incorporation (rounded down to the nearest whole number) and (ii) two nominees, provided that the stockholder(s) and the nominee(s) satisfy the requirements in our By-laws. Under our By-laws, to be considered timely, compliant notice of proxy access director nominations for next year’s proxy statement and form of proxy must be submitted to the Corporate Secretary at the principal executive address of the Company no earlier than 150 days and no later than 120 days prior to the first anniversary of the date the Company provided or made available its definitive proxy statement for the preceding year’s annual meeting; provided, however, that if the annual meeting is not within 30 days before or after the anniversary date of the preceding year’s annual meeting, to be timely the stockholder notice must be received no later than 180 days prior to such annual meeting or the tenth day after the day on which notice of the date of the meeting was first publicly announced or disclosed. 


Authorized but Unissued Capital Stock 
Our Certificate of Incorporation authorizes our Board of Directors, without further action by the stockholders and subject to any limitations imposed by the listing standards of The Nasdaq Global Select Market, to issue up to 40,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $1.00 per share, in one or more classes or series, to establish from time to time the number of shares to be included in each such class or series, to fix the rights, powers and preferences of the shares of each such class or series and any qualifications, limitations, or restrictions thereon. 


Delaware law does not require stockholder approval for any issuance of authorized shares. These additional shares may be used for a variety of corporate purposes, including future public offerings, to raise additional capital or to facilitate acquisitions. 










One of the effects of the existence of unissued and unreserved common stock or preferred stock may be to enable our Board of Directors to issue shares to persons friendly to current management, which issuance could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of our company by means of a merger, tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise, and thereby protect the continuity of our management and possibly deprive the stockholder of opportunities to sell their shares of common stock at prices higher than prevailing market prices. 


Limitation on Directors’ Liability and Indemnification 
Section 145(a) of the DGCL grants each corporation organized thereunder the power to indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation) by reason of the fact that the person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement that were actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding if the person acted in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe the person’s conduct was unlawful. The termination of any action, suit or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction, or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, shall not, of itself, create a presumption that the person did not act in good faith and in a manner which the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had reasonable cause to believe that the person’s conduct was unlawful. 


Section 145(b) of the DGCL grants each corporation organized thereunder the power to indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action or suit by or in the right of the corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that the person is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation, or is or was serving at the request of the corporation as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise against expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by the person in connection with the defense or settlement of such action or suit if the person acted in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the corporation and except that no indemnification shall be made pursuant to Section 145(b) of the DGCL in respect of any claim, issue or matter as to which such person shall have been adjudged to be liable to the corporation unless and only to the extent that the Delaware Court of Chancery or the court in which such action or suit was brought shall determine upon application that, despite the adjudication of liability but in view of all the circumstances of the case, such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses which the Court of Chancery or such other court shall deem proper. 


Section 145(c) of the DGCL provides that to the extent that a present or former director or officer of a corporation has been successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any action, suit or proceeding referred to in Sections 145(a) and (b) of the DGCL, as described in the preceding paragraphs, or in defense of any claim, issue or matter therein, such person shall be indemnified against expenses (including attorneys’ fees) actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection therewith. 


Section 145(g) of the DGCL provides, in general, that a corporation shall have the power to purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee or agent of the corporation against any liability asserted against the person in any such capacity, or arising out of the person’s status as such, regardless of whether the corporation would have the power to indemnify the person against such liability under the provisions of the DGCL.


Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL enables a corporation in its certificate of incorporation, or an amendment thereto, to eliminate or limit the personal liability of a director to the corporation or its stockholders of monetary damages for violations of the directors’ fiduciary duty of care as a director, except (i) for any breach of the director’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in good faith or that involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL (providing for director liability in the event of unlawful payment of dividends or unlawful stock purchases or redemptions) or (iv) for any transaction from which a director derived an improper personal benefit. Our Certificate of Incorporation 








indemnifies the directors and officers to the full extent of the DGCL and also allows the Board of Directors to indemnify all other employees. Such right of indemnification is not exclusive of any right to which such officer or director may be entitled as a matter of law and shall extend and apply to the estates, heirs, executors and administrators of such persons.
We maintain a directors’ and officers’ insurance policy. The policy insures directors and officers against losses arising from certain wrongful acts in their capacities as directors and officers and reimburses us for those losses for which we have lawfully indemnified the directors and officers. The policy contains various exclusions that are normal and customary for policies of this type. 
We believe that our Certificate of Incorporation, By-laws and insurance policies are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons to serve as directors and officers of the Company. 


The limitation of liability and indemnification provisions in our Certificate of Incorporation and By-laws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might benefit us and other stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers as required or allowed by these indemnification provisions. 


Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act may be permitted to directors, officers or persons controlling us pursuant to the foregoing provisions, we have been informed that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Securities Act and is therefore unenforceable. 


Delaware Anti-Takeover Statutes 
Certain Delaware law provisions may make it more difficult for someone to acquire us through a tender offer, proxy contest or otherwise. 


Section 203 of the DGCL provides that, subject to certain stated exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is any person (other than the corporation and any direct or indirect majority-owned subsidiary) who owns 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation or is an affiliate or associate of the corporation and was the owner of 15% or more of the outstanding voting stock of the corporation at any time within the three-year period immediately prior to the date of determination, and the affiliates and associates of such person. A corporation may not engage in a business combination with any interested stockholder for a period of three years following the time that such stockholder became an interested stockholder unless:


•prior to such time the board of directors of the corporation approved either the business combination or transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;


•upon consummation of the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of the voting stock of the corporation outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding shares owned by (i) persons who are directors and also officers and (ii) employee stock plans in which participants do not have the right to determine confidentially whether shares held subject to the plan will be tendered in a tender or exchange offer; or


•at or subsequent to such time, the business combination is approved by the board of directors and authorized at an annual or special meeting of stockholders, and not by written consent, by the affirmative vote of at least 66 2/3% of the outstanding voting stock which is not owned by the interested stockholder.


The effect of these provisions may make a change in control of our business more difficult by delaying, deferring or preventing a tender offer or other takeover attempt that a stockholder might consider in its best interest. This includes attempts that might result in the payment of a premium to stockholders over the market price for their shares. These provisions also may promote the continuity of our management by making it more difficult for a person to remove or change the incumbent members of the board of directors.










Transfer Agent and Registrar 
Computershare Trust Company, N.A. is the transfer agent and registrar for our common stock. 
Listing 
Our common stock is listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “TSCO.”