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.
Market Information
Our Class A common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “TW.” There is no established public trading market for our Class B common stock, Class C common stock or Class D common stock.
Holders
As of December 31, 2022, there are two holders of record of our Class A common stock, one holder of record of our Class B common stock, one holder of record of our Class C common stock and 12 holders of record of our Class D common stock. A substantially greater number of holders of our Class A common stock are “street name” or beneficial owners, whose shares of Class A common stock are held of record by banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions. Such shares of Class A common stock held by banks, brokerage firms and other financial institutions as nominees for beneficial owners are considered to be held of record by Cede & Co., a nominee for The Depository Trust Company, who is considered to be one of the two holders of record of our Class A common stock.
Dividend Policy
Subject to legally available funds, we intend to pay quarterly cash dividends on our Class A common stock and Class B common stock equal to $0.09 per share. The declaration, amount and payment of any dividends will be at the sole discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our and our subsidiaries’ results of operations, capital requirements, financial condition, business prospects, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable laws and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Because we are a holding company and all of our business is conducted through our subsidiaries, we expect to pay dividends, if any, from funds we receive from our subsidiaries. Accordingly, our ability to pay dividends to our stockholders is dependent on the earnings and distributions of funds from our subsidiaries. As the sole manager of TWM LLC, we intend to cause, and will rely on, TWM LLC to make distributions in respect of LLC Interests to fund our dividends. When TWM LLC makes such distributions, the Continuing LLC Owners will be entitled to receive equivalent distributions pro rata based on their economic interests in TWM LLC at the time of such distributions. Because Tradeweb must pay taxes and make payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement, amounts ultimately distributed as dividends to holders of our Class A common stock or Class B common stock are expected to be less than the amounts distributed by TWM LLC to its members on a per LLC Interest basis. In order for TWM LLC to make distributions, it may need to receive distributions from its subsidiaries. If TWM LLC is unable to cause these subsidiaries to make distributions, it may have inadequate funds to distribute to us and we may be unable to fund our dividends. Our ability to pay dividends may also be restricted by the terms of the Revolving Credit Facility or any future credit agreement or any future debt or preferred equity securities of Tradeweb or its subsidiaries.
Our board of directors will periodically review the cash generated from our business and the capital expenditures required to finance our growth plans and determine whether to modify the amount of regular dividends and/or declare any periodic special dividends. Any future determination to change the amount of dividends and/or declare special dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will be dependent upon then-existing conditions and other factors that our board of directors considers relevant.
See Part I, Item 1A. – “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to our Organizational Structure and Governance — Our principal asset is our equity interest in TWM LLC, and, accordingly, we depend on distributions from TWM LLC to pay our taxes and expenses, including payments under the Tax Receivable Agreement ” and Part I, Item 1A. – “Risk Factors — Risks Relating to Ownership of our Class A Common Stock — We intend to continue to pay regular dividends on our Class A common stock and Class B common stock, but our ability to do so may be limited .”
During 2022, Tradeweb Markets Inc. paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.08 per share, in an aggregate amount of $66.0 million, to the holders of Class A common stock and Class B common stock.
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Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
See Item 12 of this Report for information about securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
During the three months ended December 31, 2022, we repurchased the following shares of Class A common stock:
Period
Total Number of Shares Purchased Average Price Paid per Share Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs (1)
Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs (1)
(in thousands)
October 1, 2022 – October 31, 2022 167,174 $ 53.84 167,174 $ —
November 1, 2022 – November 30, 2022 — — — $ —
December 1, 2022 – December 31, 2022 387,198 64.57 387,198 $ 275,000
Total 554,372 $ 61.33 554,372
(1) On February 4, 2021, we announced that our board of directors authorized a share repurchase program (the “2021 Share Repurchase Program”), primarily to offset annual dilution from stock-based compensation plans. The 2021 Share Repurchase Program authorized the purchase of up to $150.0 million of our Class A common stock at the Company’s discretion through the end of fiscal year 2023. The 2021 Share Repurchase Program was effected through regular open-market purchases (which included repurchase plans designed to comply with Rule 10b5-1). The 2021 Share Repurchase Program did not require the Company to acquire a specific number of shares and was able to be suspended, amended or discontinued at any time. As of October 31, 2022, no shares remained available for repurchase pursuant to the 2021 Share Repurchase Program.
On December 5, 2022, we announced that our board of directors authorized a new share repurchase program (the “2022 Share Repurchase Program”), to continue to offset annual dilution from stock-based compensation plans, as well as to opportunistically repurchase our stock. The 2022 Share Repurchase Program authorizes the purchase of up to $300.0 million of our Class A common stock at the Company’s discretion and has no termination date. The 2022 Share Repurchase Program can be effected through regular open-market purchases (which may include repurchase plans designed to comply with Rule 10b5-1), through privately negotiated transactions or through accelerated share repurchases, each in accordance with applicable securities laws and other restrictions. The 2022 Share Repurchase Program does not require the Company to acquire a specific number of shares and may be suspended, amended or discontinued at any time.
Each share of Class A common stock repurchased pursuant to the 2021 and 2022 Share Repurchase Programs was funded with the proceeds, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, from the repurchase by Tradeweb Markets LLC of an LLC Interest from the Corporation in order to maintain the one-to-one ratio between outstanding shares of the Class A common stock and Class B common stock and the LLC Interests owned by the Corporation.
The table above does not reflect shares surrendered to cover the payroll tax withholding obligations upon the exercise of stock options and vesting of performance-based restricted stock units (“PRSUs”) and restricted stock units (“RSUs”). During the three months ended December 31, 2022, the Company withheld 25,630 shares of common stock from employee stock option, PRSU and/or RSU awards.
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Stock Performance Graph
The following graph shows a comparison from April 4, 2019 (the date our Class A common stock commenced trading on Nasdaq) through December 31, 2022 of the cumulative total return for (i) our Class A common stock, (ii) the S&P 500 Index and (iii) the Dow Jones U.S. Financials Index. The graph assumes an initial investment of $100 in our Class A common stock and in each index on April 4, 2019, and that all dividends were reinvested. Historical stock price performance should not be relied upon as an indication of future stock price performance .
The stock performance graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act or otherwise subject to the liabilities under that Section, and shall not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or Exchange Act, except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing.
ITEM 6. RESERVED.
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