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 New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "VRTS." As of February 9, 2024, we had 7,087,728 shares of common stock outstanding that were held by approximately 39,000 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 21, 2024, the Company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.90 per common share to be paid on May 15, 2024 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 30, 2024.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
An aggregate of 5,680,045 shares of our common stock have been authorized to be repurchased under a share repurchase program since it was initially approved in 2010 by our Board of Directors. As of December 31, 2023, 604,545 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, prevailing market and business conditions, tax and other financial considerations. The program, which has no specified term, may be suspended or terminated at any time.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, we repurchased a total of 223,807 common shares for $45.2 million. The following table sets forth information regarding our share repurchases in each month during the quarter ended December 31, 2023:
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, 2023 2,256 $ 183.27 2,256 700,241
November 1—30, 2023 54,427 $ 196.51 54,427 645,814
December 1—31, 2023 41,269 $ 215.37 41,269 604,545
Total 97,952 97,952
(1) Average price paid per share is calculated on a settlement basis and excludes commissions and taxes.
(2) The share repurchases were completed pursuant to a program announced in the fourth quarter of 2010 and most recently increased in May 2022. 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 2023. 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.
Stock Performance Graph
Cumulative Total Return Among Virtus, S&P 500 Index and Peer Companies
The following graph compares the cumulative total shareholder return of Virtus since its inception with the performance of the Standard & Poor’s 500 ("S&P 500") Stock Index and a peer group index that consists of several peer companies (referred to as the "Financial Peer Group") as defined below. This graph assumes an equal investment in our common stock, the S&P 500 and the Financial Peer Group on January 2, 2009, reflects reinvested dividends, and is weighted on a market capitalization basis. Each reported data point below represents the last trading day of each calendar year. The
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comparisons in the graph below are based upon historical data and are not indicative of, nor intended to forecast, future performance.
Financial Peer Group: Affiliated Managers Group, Inc., AllianceBernstein Holding L.P., Artisan Partners Asset Management Inc.*, BrightSphere Investment Group Inc.*, Cohen & Steers, Inc., Federated Hermes, Inc., Franklin Resources, Inc., Invesco Ltd., Janus Henderson Group Plc*, T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. and Victory Capital Holdings, Inc.*
*Companies excluded from the cumulative total return table due to lack of comparative performance periods.
Item 6. Reserved
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