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 listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VSH. The following table sets forth the high and low sales prices for our common stock as
reported on the New York Stock Exchange composite tape for the indicated fiscal quarters. Holders of record of our common stock totaled approximately 1,000 at February 14, 2024. Because many of the shares of our common stock are held by brokers and
other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of beneficial owners represented by these stockholders of record.
In 2014, the Company's Board of Directors instituted a quarterly cash dividend program and declared the first cash dividend in the history of Vishay. Quarterly cash
dividends have been paid in each quarter since the first fiscal quarter of 2014. We expect to continue to pay quarterly dividends, although the amount and timing of any future dividends remains subject to authorization of our Board of Directors.
The following table sets forth, for the indicated periods, the high and low sales prices of our common stock and the quarterly cash dividends declared.
Common stock price range
Dividends declared
2023
2022
per share
High
Low
High
Low
2023
2022
Fourth quarter
$
25.22
$
21.15
$
23.39
$
17.63
$
0.10
$
0.10
Third quarter
$
30.10
$
24.03
$
21.58
$
16.73
$
0.10
$
0.10
Second quarter
$
29.66
$
20.57
$
20.91
$
17.13
$
0.10
$
0.10
First quarter
$
24.48
$
20.51
$
22.71
$
17.58
$
0.10
$
0.10
At February 14, 2024, we had outstanding 12,097,148 shares of Class B common stock, par value $.10 per share, each of which entitles the holder to ten votes. The Class B common stock generally is not transferable except in certain very limited instances, and there is no market for those shares. The Class B common stock is convertible, at the option of the holder, into
common stock on a share for share basis. As a result of the passing of our founder and former Executive Chairman, Dr. Felix Zandman, Mrs. Ruta Zandman (a member of our Board of Directors) controls the voting of, solely or on a shared basis with Marc
Zandman (our Executive Chairman) and Ziv Shoshani (a member of our Board of Directors) approximately 89.7% of our Class B common stock and
44.0% of the total voting power of our capital stock as of December 31, 2023.
Certain of our debt obligations contain restrictions as to the payment of cash dividends. See "Financial Condition, Liquidity, and Capital Resources" included in Item 7,
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."
In 2022, our Board of Directors adopted a Stockholder Return Policy that will remain in effect until such time as the Board votes to amend or rescind the policy. The
Stockholder Return Policy calls for us to return a prescribed amount of cash flows on an annual basis. We intend to return such amounts directly, in the form of dividends, or indirectly, in the form of stock repurchases. We paid $55.6 million of
dividends to stockholders and repurchased $78.7 million of our stock pursuant to the Stockholder Return Policy in 2023.
To enable the operation of the Stockholder Return Policy, Vishay's Board of Directors approves the repurchase of a stated number of shares of common stock
from time-to-time. As of September 30, 2023, approximately 1.3 million shares remained from the previous repurchase authorization of 6.0 million shares. On November 28, 2023, Vishay's Board of Directors approved the repurchase of an additional 2.5
million shares of common stock, to enable the operation of the Stockholder Return Policy for the foreseeable future.
The following table provides information regarding repurchases of our common stock during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2023:
Period
Total Number of Shares Purchased
Average Price Paid per Share (including commission)
Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Program
Total Dollar Amount Purchased Under the Program
Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Program
October 1 - October 28
254,985
$
23.92
254,985
$
6,099,333
1,023,839
October 29 - November 25
309,914
22.63
309,914
7,013,513
713,925
November 26 - December 31
336,540
23.50
336,540
7,910,080
2,877,385
Total
901,439
$
23.32
901,439
$
21,022,926
2,877,385
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Stock Performance Graph
The line graph below compares the cumulative total stockholder return on Vishay’s common stock over a 5-year period with the returns on the Standard & Poor’s MidCap
400 Stock Index (of which Vishay is a component), the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The line graph assumes that $100 had been invested at December 31, 2018 and assumes that all dividends were
reinvested.
Base
Years Ending December 31,
Period
Company Name / Index
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.
100
120.66
120.03
128.98
129.84
146.67
S&P 500 Index
100
131.49
155.68
200.37
164.08
207.21
S&P MidCap 400 Index
100
126.20
143.44
178.95
155.58
181.15
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
100
163.26
250.87
358.37
233.37
389.74
Item 6. RESERVED
Not applicable.
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