Stock Quote - How to Read One
Stock quotes typically appear in financial papers, newspapers and in on the internet news sources. To the uninitiated, they may look like a nonsense bunch of letters and numbers but they are actually effortless to recognize with the appropriate knowledge of its elements. Stock quotes provide lots of useful data for the investor. Typically stock quotes on newspapers appear as tables with the following data, each line within the table offers a various stock quote:
1. 52-Week High - This is the highest price on which a stock has traded within the past 52 weeks (one year). This normally appears in the initial column of the stock quote table.
2. 52-Week Low - This is the lowest price paid for a stock in a one year. These very first two columns generally do not consist of the previous day's trading.
3. Company Name and Sort of Stock - The third column indicates the name of the organization. It really is usually indicated if the stock is common or preferred and others. If you will find no unique symbols following the name, the stock is widespread. Other symbols signify the type of stock, "pf" for instance indicates that the stock is preferred.
4. Ticker Symbol - A distinctive alphabetic name identifies a stock. This is most commonly seen in financial TV shows where a ticker tape runs across the screen following the ticker symbol. For instance, Microsoft Corp. has the ticker symbol MSFT.
5. Dividend Per Share - This shows the annual dividend payment per share. Dividend is payment made by a corporation to its shareholders. However, if the business doesn't pay out dividends at the moment, the space is generally blank.
6. Dividend Yield - Yield is the cash dividend divided by the closing price of the stock. This indicates the percentage return on the dividend.
7. Price/Earning Ratio - This information provides a method to compare stock values. It really is calculated by dividing the present stock price by the earnings per share from the last four quarters.
8. Trading Volume - Shows the total number of shares traded for the day, usually listed in hundreds.
9. Day High - The maximum price that the stock has traded in within the day.
10. Day Low - The minimum price that the stock has traded in within the day.
11. Close - The last price of the stock quoted. This is the last price recorded when the marketplace closed on the day. The symbols are usually in boldface if the closing price is up or down far more than 5% than the previous day's close. The price listed here isn't a guaranteed price of the stock on the next day. It merely serves as a record of past performance and may well occasionally serve as a guide on what you should expect to pay.
12. Net Change - This indicates the dollar value change in the stock price from previous day's closing price. Typically, when a stock is said to be "up for the day", this means the net change is positive.
The above are the typical elements of a stock quote table. Understanding and understanding of stock quote tables is really a prerequisite inside the investment world. Nonetheless, right now it's easier and much more convenient to get stock quotes from the web. Most of today's financial internet sites supply comprehensive and updated stock info throughout the day and also provides extra news, study and trending which will prove helpful for the investor.
Article Source: FxTradingStock.com
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by: Cherry Liu
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Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011
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