Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
QUARTERLY SHARE DATA
Trades of the Corporation’s stock are executed through various brokers who maintain a market in the Corporation’s stock. The Corporation’s stock is listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market with the trading symbol CZNC. As of December 31, 2023, there were 2,036 shareholders of record of the Corporation’s common stock.
While the Corporation has a history of paying cash dividends, future dividend payments will depend upon maintenance of a strong financial condition, future earnings and capital and regulatory requirements. Also, the Corporation and C&N Bank are subject to restrictions on the amount of dividends that may be paid without approval of banking regulatory authorities. These restrictions are described in Note 17 to the consolidated financial statements.
On September 25, 2023, the Corporation announced a new treasury stock repurchase program. Under the newly approved program, the Corporation is authorized to repurchase up to 750,000 shares of the Corporation’s common stock, or slightly less than 5% of the Corporation’s issued and outstanding shares at August 4, 2023. The new program was effective when publicly announced and will continue thereafter until suspended or terminated by the Board of Directors, in its sole discretion. All shares of common stock repurchased pursuant to the new program shall be held as treasury shares and be available for use and reissuance for purposes as and when determined by the Board of Directors including, without limitation, pursuant to the Corporation’s Dividend Reinvestment and Stock Purchase Plans and its equity compensation program. Through December 31, 2023, no shares were repurchased under the new program. As permitted by securities laws and other legal requirements and subject to market conditions and other factors, purchases may be made from time to time in the open market at prevailing prices, or through privately negotiated transactions.
The following table sets forth a summary of purchases by the Corporation, in the open market, of its equity securities during the fourth quarter 2023:
Total Number of
Maximum
Shares
Number of
Purchased
Shares that May
as Part of
Yet
Publicly
be Purchased
Total Number
Average
Announced
Under
of Shares
Price Paid
Plans
the Plans or
Period
Purchased
per Share
or Programs
Programs
October 1 - 31, 2023
0
$
N/A
0
750,000
November 1 - 30, 2023
0
$
N/A
0
750,000
December 1 - 31, 2023
0
$
N/A
0
750,000
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PERFORMANCE GRAPH
Set forth below is a chart comparing the Corporation’s cumulative return to stockholders against the cumulative return of the Russell 2000 Index and the Corporation’s peer group index (the NASDAQ Bank Index) for the five-year period commencing December 31, 2018 and ended December 31, 2023.
The index values are market-weighted dividend-reinvestment numbers, which measure the total return for investing $100.00 five years ago. This meets Securities & Exchange Commission requirements for showing dividend reinvestment share performance over a five-year period and measures the return to an investor for placing $100.00 into a group of bank stocks and reinvesting any and all dividends into the purchase of more of the same stock for which dividends were paid.
Period Ending
Index
12/31/18
12/31/19
12/31/20
12/31/21
12/31/22
12/31/23
Citizens & Northern Corporation
100.00
111.83
83.01
114.60
105.03
108.92
Russell 2000 Index
100.00
125.49
150.50
172.75
137.40
160.60
Peer Group (NASDAQ Bank Index)
100.00
124.38
115.04
164.41
137.65
132.92
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EQUITY COMPENSATION PLAN INFORMATION
The following table sets forth information concerning the Citizens & Northern 2023 Equity Stock Incentive Plan which was approved by the Corporation’s shareholders in April 2023. The 646 shares issuable pursuant to stock options at December 31, 2023 were issued under a previous plan and expired in January 2024. The figures shown in the table below are as of December 31, 2023.
Number of
Number of
Weighted-
Securities
Securities to be
average
Remaining
Issued Upon
Exercise
for Future
Exercise of
Price of
Issuance Under
Outstanding
Outstanding
Equity Compen-
Options
Options
sation Plans
Equity compensation plans approved by shareholders
646
$
20.45
500,000
Equity compensation plans not approved by shareholders
0
N/A
0
More details related to the Corporation’s equity compensation plans are provided in Notes 1 and 12 to the consolidated financial statements.
ITEM 6. RESERVED