A transfer agent keeps a record of the name of each registered shareowner, his or her address, and the number of shares owned. The transfer agent also sees that the certificates presented for transfer are properly canceled and new certificates issued in the new owner's name.

A three- or four-letter abbreviation used to identify a security, whether on the floor, a TV screen, or a newspaper page. Ticker symbols are part of the lore of Wall Street. They were originally developed in the 1800s by telegraph operators to save bandwidth. One-letter symbols were therefore assigned to the most active stocks. Railroads were the d [..]

When a company increases the number of shares outstanding by splitting existing shares. A 2-for-1 split means every stockholder gets two new shares for each one he or she owns, and a 3-for-2 split means each stockholder gets three shares for every two he or she owns. The price of an individual share falls, but stockholders do not lose money because [..]

The division of the outstanding shares of a corporation into either a larger or smaller number of shares, without any immediate impact in individual shareholder equity. For example, a 3-for-1 forward split by a company with 1 million shares outstanding results in 3 million shares outstanding. Each holder of 100 shares before the split would have 30 [..]

Stock options or futures contracts sold short and not covered as of a particular date. On the NYSE, a tabulation is issued once a month listing all issues on the exchange in which there was a short position of 5,000 or more shares or in which the short position had changed by 2,000 or more shares in the preceding month. Short position also means th [..]

A type of tax-advantaged employer-provided retirement plan that certain small business employers can establish for the benefit of their employees. A SIMPLE may be established as an IRA-based plan, or as part of a 401(k) plan.

An investment instrument, other than an insurance policy or fixed annuity, issued by a corporation, government, or other organization that offers evidence of debt or equity. The official definition, from the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is, "Any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, certificate of interest or participation in any p [..]

When a company wants to raise more funds by issuing additional securities, it may give its stockholders the opportunity, ahead of others, to buy new securities in proportion to the number of shares each owns. The piece of paper evidencing this privilege is called a right. Because the additional stock is usually offered to stockholders below the cur [..]

The federal regulation governing the amount of credit that brokers and dealers may advance to customers for the purchase of securities.

Funneling of profits back into a company to enhance its operations. An individual stockowner can also reinvest by designating that dividends paid on stock be used to purchase additional shares of that stock.