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
Our common stock, with no par value, has traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “NEU” since June 21, 2004 when we became the parent holding company of Ethyl, Afton, NewMarket Services, NewMarket Development, and their subsidiaries. We had 1,797 shareholders of record as of January 31, 2024.
On October 28, 2021, our Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program authorizing management to repurchase up to $500 million of NewMarket's outstanding common stock until December 31, 2024, as market conditions warrant and covenants under our existing debt agreements permit. We may conduct the share repurchases in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions, through block trades, or pursuant to trading plans intended to comply with Rule 10b5-1 and/or Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The repurchase program does not require the Company to acquire any specific number of shares and may be terminated or suspended at any time. At December 31, 2023 , approximately $231 million remained available under the 2021 authorization. There were no purchases during the fourth quarter of 2023 under this authorization.
Cash dividends declared and paid totaled $8.85 per share for the year ended December 31, 2023 and $8.40 per share for the year ended December 31, 2022. The declaration and payment of dividends is subject to the discretion of our Board of Directors. Future dividends will depend on various factors, including our financial condition, earnings, cash requirements, legal requirements, restrictions in agreements governing our outstanding indebtedness, and other factors deemed relevant by our Board of Directors.
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The performance graph of the five-year cumulative total return on our common stock as compared to chemical companies in the S&P 1500 Specialty Chemicals Index and the S&P 500 is shown below. The graph assumes $100 invested on the last day of December 2018, and the reinvestment of all dividends. The graph is based on historical data and is not intended to be a forecast or indication of future pe rform ance of our common stock.
Performance Graph
Comparison of Five-Year Cumulative Total Return
Performance Through December 31, 2023
December 31,
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
NewMarket Corporation $ 100.00 $ 120.02 $ 100.22 $ 88.29 $ 82.40 $ 147.58
S&P 1500 Specialty Chemicals Index 100.00 118.29 137.60 175.78 132.06 151.74
S&P 500 100.00 131.49 155.68 200.37 164.08 207.21
The graph and table above are not deemed “filed” with the SEC for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, nor are they incorporated by reference into other filings made by us with the SEC.
ITEM 6. RESERVED
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