Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
ITEM
5. MARKET
FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED SHAREHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES
OF EQUITY SECURITIES.
Market
Information.
The
Company’s common stock is currently listed on NASDAQ under the trading symbol “WNEB.” As of December 31, 2024,
there were 20,875,713 shares of the Company’s common stock outstanding by approximately 1,862 shareholders, as obtained
through our transfer agent. Such number of shareholders does not reflect the number of persons or entities holding stock in nominee
name through banks, brokerage firms and other nominees.
Dividend
Policy.
The
Company maintains a dividend reinvestment and direct stock purchase plan (the “DRSPP”). The DRSPP enables stockholders,
at their discretion, to continue to elect to reinvest cash dividends paid on their shares of the Company’s common stock
by purchasing additional shares of common stock from the Company at a purchase price equal to fair market value. Under the DRSPP,
stockholders and new investors also have the opportunity to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock without brokerage
fees, subject to monthly minimums and maximums.
Although
the Company has historically paid quarterly dividends on its common stock, the Company’s ability to pay such dividends depends
on a number of factors, including restrictions under federal laws and regulations on the Company’s ability to pay dividends,
and as a result, there can be no assurance that dividends will be paid in the future.
Recent
Sales of Unregistered Securities.
There
were no sales by the Company of unregistered securities during the year ended December 31, 2024.
Purchases
of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers.
The
following table sets forth information with respect to purchases made by the Company during the three months ended December 31,
2024.
Period
Total Number of Shares Purchased
Average Price Paid per Share
($)
Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Programs
Maximum Number of Shares that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Program (1)(2)
October 1 - 31, 2024
95,000
8.76
95,000
597,318
November 1 - 30, 2024
54,383
9.04
54,383
542,935
December 1 - 31, 2024 (2)
88,312
9.26
70,617
472,318
Total
237,695
9.01
220,000
472,318
(1) On
May 21, 2024, the Board authorized an additional stock repurchase plan (the “2024
Plan”) under which the Company may purchase up to 1,000,000 shares of common stock,
or 4.6%, of its outstanding common stock, as of the date the 2024 Plan was adopted. The
2024 Plan commenced upon the completion of the prior existing repurchase plan on June
6, 2024.
(2) Repurchase
of 17,695 shares related to tax obligations for shares of restricted stock that vested
on December 31, 2024 under our 2021 Omnibus Incentive Plan. These repurchases were reported
by each reporting person on January 3, 2025.
55
Stock
Performance Graph.
The
following graph compares our total cumulative shareholder return (which assumes the reinvestment of all dividends) by an investor
who invested $100.00 on December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2024, to the total return by an investor who invested $100.00 in the
S&P U.S. Banks Index $1 Billion - $5 Billion, the S&P U.S. BMI Banks New England Region Index and the NASDAQ Bank Index.
COMPARISON
OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN
Among
Western New England Bancorp, Inc., the S&P U.S. Banks Index $1 Billion - $5 Billion, the S&P U.S. BMI Banks New England
Region Index and the NASDAQ Bank Index
Period
Ending
Index
12/31/19
12/31/20
12/31/21
12/31/22
12/31/23
12/31/24
Western
New England Bancorp, Inc.
100.00
74.00
96.33
106.92
105.77
112.14
S&P
U.S. Banks $1 Billion - $5 Billion
100.00
90.53
122.61
110.58
112.28
129.43
S&P
U.S. BMI Banks New England Region Index
100.00
86.61
120.88
110.72
102.29
127.05
NASDAQ
Bank Index
100.00
92.50
132.19
110.67
106.87
128.85
56
ITEM
6. SELECTED
FINANCIAL DATA.
[Reserved.]