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.
The information required by Item 201 of Regulation S-K is contained in ‘‘ Item 1. Business .’’
On August 25, 2021, our Board made a grant to our directors and CEO, entitling them to receive an aggregate of 68,834 Common Shares which shall not be issued to the award recipients unless certain time or performance based vesting criteria, as applicable, are met, in which case the vesting will occur in equal parts over a three-year period. The awards were made under the 2020 Equity Incentive plan in accordance with Rule 701 promulgated under the Securities Act.
Commencing on January 1, 2021, the Company entered into a share repurchase program on the NASDAQ conducted in accordance with Rule 10b-18 promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company was authorized to repurchase up to 1,193,000 of its outstanding common shares, representing 5% of the outstanding common shares of Epsilon as of January 1, 2021. The program ended December 31, 2021 and the shares were subsequently cancelled.
Repurchases were made at management’s discretion from time to time through the facilities of the NASDAQ Global Market. The price paid for the common shares was, subject to applicable securities laws, the prevailing market price of such common shares on the NASDAQ Global Market at the time of such purchase. The Company funded the purchases out of available cash and did not incur debt to fund the share repurchase program. The shares are accounted for as treasury shares until such a time as they are cancelled.
The following table contains information about our repurchase of equity securities during the year ended December 31, 2021:
Maximum number
of shares that
may yet be
Total number
Average price
purchased under
of shares
paid per
the plans or
purchased
share
programs
Beginning of normal-course issuer bid, January 1, 2021
1,193,000
January 2021 (1)
—
$
—
February 2021 (1)
62,400
$
4.07
March 2021 (1)
60,800
$
3.92
April 2021 (1)
63,315
$
3.89
May 2021 (1)
63,900
$
4.02
June 2021 (1)
13,800
$
4.77
July 2021 (1)
134,200
$
5.09
August 2021 (1)
127,200
$
4.97
September 2021 (1)
—
$
—
October 2021 (1)
—
$
—
November 2021 (1)
—
$
—
December 2021 (1)
8,400
$
5.46
Total as of December 31, 2021
534,015
$
4.54
658,985
(1) Epsilon repurchased these shares under its share repurchase program that commenced on January 1, 2021, as described above.
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ITEM 6. [RESERVED.]