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
The Class A Common Stock trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “VIRT”. There is no established public trading market for Class B Common Stock, Class C Common Stock or Class D Common Stock.
Holders
Based on information made available to us by the transfer agent, as of February 19, 2020, there are thirty-six stockholders of record of our Class A Common Stock, one of which was Cede & Co., a nominee for The Depository Trust Company, zero stockholders of record of our Class B Common Stock, six stockholders of record of our Class C Common Stock and one stockholder of record of our Class D Common Stock. All of our Class A Common Stock held by brokerage firms, banks and other financial institutions as nominees for beneficial owners is considered to be held of record by Cede & Co., who is considered to be one stockholder of record. A substantially greater number of holders of our Class A Common Stock are “street name” or beneficial holders, whose shares of Class A Common Stock are held of record by banks, brokers and other financial institutions. Because such shares of Class A Common Stock are held on behalf of stockholders, and not by the stockholders directly, and because a stockholder can have multiple positions with different brokerage firms, banks and other financial institutions, we are unable to determine the total number of stockholders we have.
Dividend and Capital Return Policy
Our Board of Directors has adopted a policy of returning excess cash to our stockholders. The Board of Directors declared and we paid quarterly cash dividends of $0.24 during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. The Company intends to continue paying regular quarterly dividends to holders of our Class A Common Stock and Class B Common Stock and to holders of RSUs (as defined below); however, the payment of dividends will be subject to general economic and business conditions, including the Company’s financial condition, results of operations and cash flows, capital requirements, contractual restrictions, including restrictions contained in our Credit Agreement, regulatory restrictions, business prospects and other factors that the Company’s Board of Directors considers relevant. The terms of the Credit Agreement contain a number of covenants, including a restriction on our and our restricted subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends on, or make distributions in respect of, our equity interests. See “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations - Liquidity and Capital Resources - Long-Term Borrowings”.
Stock Performance
The following performance graph and related information shall not be deemed “soliciting material” or to be “filed” with the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor shall such information be incorporated by reference into any future filing under the Securities Act or the Exchange Act except to the extent we specifically incorporate it by reference into such filing. Our stock price performance shown in the graph below is not indicative of future stock price performance.
The stock performance graph below compares the performance of an investment in our Class A Common Stock, from December 31, 2015 through December 31, 2020, with the S&P 500 Index and the NYSE ARCA Securities Broker/Dealer Index. The graph assumes $100 was invested in our Class A Common Stock, the S&P 500 Index and the NYSE Arca Securities
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Broker/Dealer Index. It assumes that dividends were reinvested on the date of payment without payment of any commissions or consideration of income taxes.
Index 12/31/2015 6/30/2016 12/30/2016 6/30/2017 12/29/2017 6/29/2018 12/31/2018 6/28/2019 12/31/2019 06/30/2020 12/31/2020
Virtu Financial Inc. 100.00 81.50 74.58 84.93 90.63 133.59 132.28 114.12 86.16 130.17 141.67
S&P 500 100.00 102.69 109.54 118.57 130.81 133.00 122.65 143.93 158.07 151.68 183.77
NYSE Arca Securities Broker/Dealer 100.00 84.46 115.27 126.57 148.94 152.98 133.27 150.02 163.05 152.65 212.02
Stock and Common Units Repurchases
Pursuant to the exchange agreement (the “Exchange Agreement”) entered into on April 15, 2015 by and among the Company, Virtu Financial and holders of Virtu Financial Units, Virtu Financial Units (along with the corresponding shares of our Class C Common Stock or Class D Common Stock, as applicable) may be exchanged at any time for shares of our Class A Common Stock or Class B Common Stock, as applicable, on a one-for-one basis, subject to customary conversion rate adjustments for stock splits, stock dividends and reclassifications.
In February 2018, the Company's Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program of up to $50.0 million in Class A Common Stock and Virtu Financial Units by March 31, 2019. On July 27, 2018, the Company's Board of Directors authorized the expansion of the Company's share repurchase program, increasing the total authorized amount by $50.0 million to $100.0 million and extending the duration of the program through September 30, 2019. From the inception of the program in February 2018 to the expiration of the program on September 30, 2019, the Company repurchased approximately 2.6 million shares of Class A Common Stock and Virtu Financial Units for approximately $65.9 million.
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On November 6, 2020, the Company's Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $100.0 million in Class A common stock and Virtu Financial Units by December 31, 2021. The Company may repurchase shares from time to time in open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions or by other means. Repurchases may also be made under Rule 10b5-1 plans. The timing and amount of repurchase transactions will be determined by the Company's management based on its evaluation of market conditions, share price, legal requirements and other factors. The program may be suspended, modified or discontinued at any time without prior notice. There are no assurances that any further repurchases will actually occur. From the inception of the program through December 31, 2020, the Company has repurchased approximately 1.4 million shares of Class A Common Stock and Virtu Financial Units for approximately $33.9 million. The Company has approximately $66.1 million of remaining capacity for future purchases of shares of Class A Common Stock and Virtu Financial Units under the program.
The following table contains information about the Company’s purchases of its Class A Common Stock and Class C Common Stock during the three months ended December 31, 2020:
Period Total Number of Shares Purchased (1) Average Price Paid per Share Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs Approximate Dollar Value of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
October 1, 2020 - October 31, 2020
Class A Common Stock / Virtu Financial Units repurchases 22,166 $ 23.04 N/A
November 1, 2020 - November 30, 2020
Class A Common Stock / Virtu Financial Units repurchases 383,563 22.83 378,256
December 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020
Class A Common Stock / Virtu Financial Units repurchases 1,167,415 24.00 1,058,070
Class C Common Stock/ Virtu Financial Units repurchases — — —
Total Common Stock / Virtu Financial Unit repurchases 1,573,144 $ 23.70 1,436,326 $ 66,081,593
(1) Includes the repurchase of 136,818 shares from employees in order to satisfy statutory tax withholding requirements upon the net settlement of equity awards for the three months ended December 31, 2020
During the year ended December 31, 2020, pursuant to the Exchange Agreement, certain current and former employees elected to exchange 2,660,239 units in Virtu Financial held directly or on their behalf by Virtu Employee Holdco LLC (“Employee Holdco”) on a one-for-one basis for shares of Class A Common Stock. The shares of our Class A Common Stock were issued in reliance on the registration exemption contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act, on the basis that the transaction did not involve a public offering. No underwriters were involved in the transaction.
Equity Compensation Plan Information
The following table provides information about shares of common stock available for future awards under all of the Company’s equity compensation plans as of December 31, 2020:
Plan Category Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options, warrants and rights Weighted-average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in first column)
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders Amended and Restated 2015 Management Incentive Plan 2,324,152 $ 19.00 6,539,431
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders None 3,000,000 22.98 —
Total 5,324,152 $ 21.24 6,539,431
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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
Not applicable.
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