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 is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the trading symbol "VRTS." As of February 11, 2022, we had 7,506,151 shares of common stock outstanding that were held by approximately 42,800 holders of record.
In making decisions regarding our quarterly dividend, we consider general economic and business conditions, our strategic plans and prospects, our businesses and investment opportunities, our financial condition and operating results, working capital requirements and anticipated cash needs, contractual restrictions and obligations, legal, tax, regulatory and other restrictions that may have implications on the payment of distributions by us to our common shareholders or by our subsidiaries to us, and such other factors as we may deem relevant. We cannot provide any assurances that any distributions, whether quarterly or otherwise, will continue to be paid in the future.
On February 23, 2022, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.50 per common share to be paid on May 13, 2022 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 29, 2022.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
An aggregate of 4,930,045 shares of our common stock had been authorized to be repurchased under the share repurchase program originally approved by our Board of Directors in 2010, and as of December 31, 2021, 529,449 shares remained available for repurchase. Under the terms of the program, we may repurchase shares of our common stock from time to time at our discretion through open market repurchases, privately negotiated transactions and/or other mechanisms, depending on price and prevailing market and business conditions. The program, which has no specified term, may be suspended or terminated at any time.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, we repurchased a total of 193,193 common shares for $57.5 million. The following table sets forth information regarding our share repurchases in each month during the quarter ended December 31, 2021:
Period Total number of shares purchased Average price paid per share (1) Total number of shares purchased as part of publicly announced plans or programs (2) Maximum number of shares that may yet be purchased under the plans or programs (2)
October 1—31, 2021 1,050 $ 317.51 1,050 610,265
November 1—30, 2021 34,371 $ 320.75 34,371 575,894
December 1—31, 2021 46,445 $ 293.67 46,445 529,449
Total 81,866 81,866
(1) Average price paid per share is calculated on a settlement basis and excludes commissions.
(2) The share repurchases above were completed pursuant to a program announced in the fourth quarter of 2010 and most recently increased in May 2020. This repurchase program is not subject to an expiration date.
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
There were no unregistered sales of equity securities during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. Shares of our common stock purchased by participants in our Employee Stock Purchase Plan were delivered to participant accounts via open market purchases at fair value by the third-party administrator under the plan. We do not reserve shares for this plan or discount the purchase price of the shares.
Item 6. Reserved
18
Table of Contents
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.