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 common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “UTI.”
The closing price of our common stock as reported by the NYSE on December 3, 2024 was $24.17 per share. As of December 3, 2024, there were 18 holders of record of our common stock.
Dividends
On June 9, 2016, our board of directors voted to eliminate the quarterly cash dividend on our common stock. Any future common stock dividends require the approval from our board of directors.
Pursuant to the Certificate of Designations of the Series A Preferred Stock, we paid preferred stock cash dividends of $1.1 million during the year ended September 30, 2024. As of September 30, 2024, no shares of the Series A Preferred Stock remained outstanding and all rights of the holders to receive future dividends have been terminated due to the combination of the repurchase and conversion of all outstanding preferred shares as of December 18, 2023. See Note 18 of the notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements within Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further information on the preferred share conversion.
We continuously evaluate our cash position in light of growth opportunities, operating results and general market conditions.
Repurchase of Securities
On December 10, 2020, our board of directors authorized a new share repurchase plan that would allow for the repurchase of up to $35.0 million of our common stock in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. Any repurchases under this new stock repurchase program require the approval of our board of directors. We did not repurchase any shares during the quarter ended September 30, 2024.
Stock Performance Graph
The following Stock Performance Graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or “filed” with the SEC, nor should such information be incorporated by reference into any future filings under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act except to the extent that we specifically incorporate it by reference in such filing.
The graph below compares our annual percentage change in cumulative total return on common shares over the past five years with the cumulative total return of companies comprising the Russell 2000 Index and our peer group index. The peer group consists of the companies identified below, which were selected on the basis of similar nature of their business. This presentation assumes that $100 was invested in shares of the relevant issuers on September 30, 2019, and that dividends received were immediately invested in additional shares. The graph plots the value of the initial $100 investment at one-year intervals for the fiscal years shown.
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CRSP Total Returns Index for: 09/2019 09/2020 09/2021 09/2022 09/2023 09/2024
Universal Technical Institute, Inc. $ 100.00 $ 93.38 $ 124.26 $ 100.00 $ 154.03 $ 298.83
Russell 2000 100.00 100.39 148.25 113.42 123.55 156.61
Peer Group 100.00 73.31 74.91 66.08 84.31 125.25
Companies in the Self-Determined Peer Group:
Adtalem Global Education, Inc. Perdoceo Education Corporation
American Public Education, Inc. Strategic Education, Inc.
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation
Notes:
• The lines represent monthly index levels derived from compounded daily returns that include all dividends.
• The indexes are reweighted daily, using the market capitalization on the previous trading day.
• If the monthly interval, based on the fiscal year-end, is not a trading day, the preceding trading day is used.
• The index level for all series was set to $100.00 on 9/30/2019.
Prepared by Zacks Investment Research, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
ITEM 6. [RESERVED]