Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for the Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Common Stock
S&P Global Inc.'s common stock is traded on the New York Exchange ("NYSE") under the ticker symbol ("SPGI"). The approximate number of record holders of our common stock as of February 4, 2022 was 2,820.
The performance graph below compares our cumulative total shareholder return during the previous five years with a performance indicator of the overall market (i.e., S&P 500), and our peer group. The peer group consists of the following companies: Moody’s Corporation, CME Group Inc., MSCI Inc., FactSet Research Systems Inc., IHS Markit Ltd., Verisk Analytics, Inc. and Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. Returns assume $100 invested on December 31, 2016 and total return includes reinvestment of dividends through December 31, 2021.
Dividends
We expect to continue our policy of paying regular cash dividends, although there is no assurance as to future dividend payments because they depend on future earnings, capital requirements and our financial condition. Regular quarterly dividends per share of our common stock for 2021 and 2020 were as follows:
2021 2020
$0.77 per quarter in 2021 $ 3.08
$0.67 per quarter in 2020 $ 2.68
28
Table of Contents
On January 26, 2022, the Board of Directors approved a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.77 per share. Following the expected closing of the merger with IHS Markit, the Board of Directors will revisit the dividend policy of the combined Company.
Transfer Agent and Registrar for Common Stock
Computershare is the transfer agent for S&P Global. Computershare maintains the records for the Company's registered shareholders and can assist with a variety of shareholder related services.
Shareholder correspondence should be mailed to:
Computershare
P.O. Box 505000
Louisville, KY 40233-5000
Overnight correspondence should be mailed to:
Computershare
462 South 4th Street, Suite 1600
Louisville, KY 40202
Visit the Investor Center™ website to view and manage shareholder account information online: www.computershare.com/investor
For shareholder assistance:
In the U.S. and Canada: 888-201-5538
Outside the U.S. and Canada: 201-680-6578
TDD for the hearing impaired: 800-490-1493
TDD outside the U.S. and Canada: 781-575-4592
E-mail address: web.queries@computershare.com
Shareholder online inquiries https://www-us.computershare.com/investor/Contact
Repurchase of Equity Securities
On January 29, 2020, the Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program authorizing the purchase of 30 million shares (the "2020 Repurchase Program"), which was approximately 12% of the total shares of our outstanding common stock at that time. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we did not repurchase any shares under the 2020 Repurchase Program and, as of December 31, 2021, 30 million shares remained under the 2020 Repurchase Program.
On December 4, 2013, the Board of Directors approved a share repurchase program authorizing the purchase of up to 50 million shares (the "2013 Repurchase Program"), which was approximately 18% of the Company's outstanding shares at that time. During the fourth quarter of 2021, we did not repurchase any shares under our 2013 Repurchase Program. Further discussion relating to our ASR agreement can be found in Note 9 - Equity to the Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, in the Annual Report on Form 10-K. As of December 31, 2021, 0.8 million shares remained under the 2013 Repurchase Program.
Repurchased shares may be used for general corporate purposes, including the issuance of shares for stock compensation plans and to offset the dilutive effect of the exercise of employee stock options. Our 2013 and 2020 Repurchase Programs have no expiration date and purchases under these programs may be made from time to time on the open market and in private transactions, depending on market conditions.
The following table provides information on our purchases of our outstanding common stock during the fourth quarter of 2021 pursuant to our 2013 and 2020 Repurchase Programs (column c). In addition to these purchases, the number of shares in column (a) include shares of common stock that are tendered to us to satisfy our employees’ tax withholding obligations in connection with the vesting of awards of restricted shares (we repurchase such shares based on their fair market value on the vesting date). There were no other share repurchases during the quarter outside the repurchases noted below.
Period (a) Total Number of Shares Purchased (b) Average Price Paid per Share (c) Total Number of Shares Purchased as
Part of Publicly Announced Programs (d) Maximum Number of Shares that may yet be Purchased Under the Programs
Oct. 1 - Oct. 31, 2021 1,226 $ 434.24 — 30.8 million
Nov. 1 - Nov. 30, 2021 2,151 458.91 — 30.8 million
Dec. 1 - Dec. 31, 2021 1,033 460.54 — 30.8 million
Total — Qtr 4,410 $ 452.43 — 30.8 million
Equity Compensation Plan
For information on securities authorized under our equity compensation plans, see Item 12, Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters .
Item 6 . [Reserved]
29
Table of Contents