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.
Shares of the Company’s common stock are traded under the symbol “LFUS” on the NASDAQ Global Select Market SM .
Number of Holders
As of February 12, 2021, there were 62 holders of record of the Company’s common stock.
Dividend Policy
The future dividend policy will be determined by the Board of Directors based upon its evaluation of earnings, cash availability, and general business prospects. Currently, there are restrictions on the payment of dividends contained in the Company’s credit agreements that relate to the maintenance of certain financial ratios. However, the Company expects to continue paying cash dividends on a quarterly basis for the foreseeable future.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
There were no sales of unregistered securities by us or affiliates during the fiscal year ended December 26, 2020.
Purchases of Equity Securities
On April 26, 2019, the Company announced that the Board of Directors authorized to a program to repurchase up to 1,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock for the period May 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020 ("2019 program"). On April 29, 2020, the Company announced that the Board of Directors authorized a new program to repurchase up to 1,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock for the period May 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021 (the "2020 program") to replace its previous expired 2019 program. During the fiscal year ended December 26, 2020, the Company repurchased 175,110 shares of its common stock totaling $22.9 million, under the 2019 program. There were 324,890 shares available for purchase under the 2019 program that expired on April 30, 2020.
The Company did not repurchase shares of its common stock during the three months ended December 26, 2020. There are 1,000,000 shares remaining available for purchase under the 2020 program as of December 26, 2020.
Stock Performance Graph
The following stock performance graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filings under the Securities Act of 1933 or Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, except to the extent that the Company specifically incorporates it by reference into such filing.
The following stock performance graph compares the five-year cumulative total return on Littelfuse common stock to the five-year cumulative total returns on the Russell 1000 Index and the Dow Jones Electrical Components and Equipment Industry Group Index. The Company believes that the Russell 1000 Index and the Dow Jones Electrical Components and Equipment Industry Group Index represent a broad market index and peer industry group for total return performance comparison. The stock performance shown on the graph below represents historical stock performance and is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.
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12/2015 12/2016 12/2017 12/2018 12/2019 12/2020
Littelfuse, Inc. $ 100 $ 143 $ 188 $ 164 $ 185 $ 249
Russell 1000 100 112 136 130 171 206
Dow Jones US Electrical Components & Equipment 100 121 154 135 167 202
The Dow Jones Electrical Components and Equipment Industry Group Index includes the common stock of A. O. Smith Corp.; AAON, Inc.; American Superconductor Corp.; AMETEK, Inc.; Amphenol Corp.; Arrow Electronics, Inc.; Avnet, Inc.; AVX Corp.; Capstone Turbine Corp.; CTS Corp.; General Cable Corp.; Hubbell Inc. Class B; Jabil Circuit, Inc.; Littelfuse, Inc.; Methode Electronics, Inc.; Plexus Corp.; Powerwave Technologies, Inc.; Regal-Beloit Corp.; Vicor Corp.; and Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.
For Littelfuse, Inc. and all indexes noted above, a $100 investment made on January 2, 2016 and reinvestment of all dividends is assumed. Returns for the Company’s fiscal years presented above are as of the last day of the respective fiscal year which was December 31, 2016, December 30, 2017, December 29, 2018, December 28, 2019, and December 26, 2020 for the fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively.
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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA.
The information presented below provides selected financial data of the Company during the past five fiscal years and should be read in conjunction with Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations , and Item 8, Financial Statements and Supplementary Data , for the respective years presented:
(in thousands, except per share data) 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016
Net sales $ 1,445,695 $ 1,503,873 $ 1,718,468 $ 1,221,534 $ 1,056,159
Gross profit (1) 501,172 546,295 653,415 506,533 415,835
Operating income 162,372 192,791 225,049 218,511 130,644
Net income 129,986 139,082 164,565 119,519 104,488
Per share of common stock:
Income from continuing operations
- Basic 5.33 5.66 6.62 5.27 4.63
- Diluted 5.29 5.60 6.52 5.21 4.60
Cash dividends paid 1.92 1.82 1.60 1.40 1.24
Cash and cash equivalents 687,525 531,139 489,733 429,676 275,124
Total assets 2,747,593 2,559,898 2,614,306 1,740,102 1,491,194
Short-term debt — 10,000 10,000 6,250 6,250
Long-term debt, less current portion 687,034 669,158 684,730 489,361 447,892
(1) The prior year gross profit amounts have been reclassified to reflect a change in classification of certain costs presented on the Company’s Consolidated Statements of Income. See Note 1, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Other Information for further information. This reclassification change had no impact on previously reported operating income and net income amounts.