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.
Common Stock
Our common stock trades under the symbol “GPRE” on Nasdaq.
Holders of Record
We had 1,741 holders of record of our common stock, not including beneficial holders whose shares are held in names other than their own, on February 5, 2024. This figure does not include approximately 62.0 million shares held in depository trusts.
Dividend Policy
On June 18, 2019, the company’s board of directors suspended its future quarterly cash dividend following the June 14, 2019 dividend payment, in order to retain and redirect cash flow to the company’s operating expense equalization plan, the deployment of high-protein technology, its stock repurchase program and other corporate purposes.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Employees and directors may surrender shares when restricted stock grants are vested to satisfy statutory minimum required payroll tax withholding obligations. The following table lists the shares that were surrendered during the fourth quarter of 2023:
Period Total Number of
Shares Withheld Average Price
Paid per Share
October 1 - October 31 1,868 $ 28.75
November 1 - November 30 — —
December 1 - December 31 175 25.44
Total 2,043 $ 28.46
Our board of directors authorized a share repurchase program of up to $200.0 million of our common stock. Under this program, we may repurchase shares in open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions, accelerated buyback programs, tender offers or by other means. The timing and amount of the transactions are determined by management based on its evaluation of market conditions, share price, legal requirements and other factors. The program may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time, without prior notice. We did not repurchase any shares during 2023. Since inception, the company has repurchased 7.4 million shares of common stock for approximately $92.8 million under the program.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Equity Compensation Plans
Refer to Item 12 – Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters for information regarding shares authorized for issuance under equity compensation plans.
30
Table of Contents
Performance Graph
The following graph compares our cumulative total return with the S&P SmallCap 600 Index and the Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy Index (CELS) for each of the five years ended December 31, 2023. The graph assumes a $100 investment in our common stock and each index at December 31, 2018, and that all dividends were reinvested.
*$100 invested on 12/31/18 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends.
Fiscal year ending December 31.
12/18 12/19 12/20 12/21 12/22 12/23
Green Plains Inc. $ 100.00 $ 119.60 $ 102.08 $ 269.42 $ 236.40 $ 195.48
S&P SmallCap 600 100.00 122.78 136.64 173.29 145.39 168.73
Nasdaq Clean Edge Green Energy 100.00 142.67 406.35 395.62 276.35 248.97
The information in the graph will not be considered solicitation material, nor will it be filed with the SEC or incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act, unless we specifically incorporate it by reference into our filing.
Item 6. Reserved.
31
Table of Contents