Hi,

Many newspapers publish in their business sections the stock tables of the various stock exchanges and markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, and The Nasdaq Stock Market. These tables typically list most of the actively traded public companies in the U.S. and include summaries of how a company's stock performed the previous trading day. They also provide information about any dividend payments and the company's price to earnings (P/E) ratio.

For further information on how to read a stock table, you may wish to visit the website of the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.sec.go v/answers/stocktables.htm

S tock Market Table Terms

(1) Hi-Lo. The first column is the highest and lowest prices at which the stock traded in the past year (52 weeks). In our example, the highest price was $47 and the lowest was $37.

(2) Company Symbol. The second column is the abbreviated name of the firm issuing the stock. The symbol of the company stands next to the abbreviated name. In our case, it is "Z." This symbol is sometimes referred to as the company's "ticker symbol."

(3) Dividends. Dividends are the amount a company pays to its stockholders. The third column is the annual dividend paid per share. In our example, it is $2.30.

(4) Volume. The fourth column, titled "VOL," lists the volume of shares (in hundreds) that were traded that day. In our example, on August 23, 1999, 33,500 shares were traded by XYZ. Volume may give you an indication on the size of the breadth of the market for a company's shares.

(5) The YLD column approximates the dividend yield. The dividend yield is the current return on invested capital. We can use it to compare dividend returns for firms that have different stock prices. We derive the dividend yield by dividing the current dividend by the closing stock price. In our case the dividend yield is 5%, calculated as follows:

Dividend


$2.30


= 5.43%

Price (8th column)


$42.375

Answered by Ajay Pal , an ibibo Master, at 7:37 AM on June 03, 2008

Any financial paper has stock quotes that will look something like a 12 column table. The explanation of each column is given below-

Columns 1 & 2: 52-Week High and Low - These are the highest and lowest prices at which a stock has traded over the previous 52 weeks (one year). This typically does not include the previous day's trading.

Column 3: Company Name & Type of Stock - This column lists the name of the company. If there are no special symbols or letters following the name, it is common stock. Different symbols imply different classes of shares. For example, "pf" means the shares are preferred stock.

Column 4: Ticker Symbol - This is the unique alphabetic name which identifies the stock. If you watch financial TV, you have seen the ticker tape move across the screen, quoting the latest prices alongside this symbol. If you are looking for stock quotes online, you always search for a company by the ticker symbol. If you don't know what a particular company's ticker is you can search for it at: http://finance.yahoo.com/l.

Colu mn 5: Dividend Per Share - This indicates the annual dividend payment per share. If this space is blank, the company does not currently pay out dividends.

Column 6: Dividend Yield - The percentage return on the dividend. Calculated as annual dividends per share divided by price per share.

Column 7: Price/Earnings Ratio - This is calculated by dividing the current stock price by earnings per share from the last four quarters. For more detail on how to interpret this, see our P/E Ratio tutorial.
Column 8: Trading Volume - This figure shows the total number of shares traded for the day, listed in hundreds. To get the actual number traded, add "00" to the end of the number listed.

Column 9 & 10: Day High and Low - This indicates the price range at which the stock has traded at throughout the day. In other words, these are the maximum and the minimum prices that people have paid for the stock.

Column 11: Close - The close is the last trading price recorded when the market closed on the day. If the closing price is up or down more than 5% than the previous day's close, the entire listing for that stock is bold-faced. Keep in mind, you are not guaranteed to get this price if you buy the stock the next day because the price is constantly changing (even after the exchange is closed for the day). The close is merely an indicator of past performance and except in extreme circumstances serves as a ballpark of what you should expect to pay.

Column 12: Net Change - This is the dollar value change in the stock price from the previous day's closing price. When you hear about a stock being "up for the day," it means the net change was positive.

Answered by Nagendra , an ibibo Master, at 6:17 PM on June 01, 2008

Open any financial paper and you will see stock quotes with various columns. Now read on.
Columns 1 & 2: 52-Week High and Low. These are the highest and lowest prices at which a stock has traded over the previous 52-weeks (1 year). This typically does not include the previous day's trading.

Column 3: Company Name and Type of Stock. This column lists the name of the company. If there are no special symbols or letters following the name, it is common stock. Different symbols imply different classes of shares. For example, "pf" means the shares are preferred stock.

Column 4: Ticker Symbol. This is the unique alphabetic name which identifies the stock. If you watch financial TV the ticker tape will quote the latest prices alongside this symbol. If you are looking for stock quotes online, you always search for a company by the ticker symbol.

Column 5: Dividend Per Share. This indicates the annual dividend payment per share. If this space is blank, the company does not currently pay out dividends.

Column 6: Dividend Yield. The percentage return on the dividend. Calculated as annual dividends per share divided by price per share.

Column 7: Price/Earnings Ratio. This is calculated by dividing the current stock price by earnings per share from the last four quarters. For more info on how to interpret this, see our P/E Ratio Tutorial.

Column 8: Trading Volume. This figure shows the total number of shares traded for the day, listed in hundreds. To get the actual number traded, add "00" to the end of the number listed.

Column 9 & 10: Day High and Low. This indicates the price range the stock has traded at throughout the day's trading. In other words, these are the maximum and the minimum people have paid for the stock.

Column 11: Close. The close is the last trading price recorded when the market closed on the day. If the closing price is up or down more than 5% than the previous day's close, the entire listing for that stock is bold-faced. Keep in mind, you are not guaranteed to get this price if you buy the stock the next day because the price is constantly changing, even after the exchange is closed for the day. The close is merely an indicator of past performance and, except in extreme circumstances, it serves as a ballpark of what you should expect to pay.

Column 12: Net Change. This is the dollar value change in the stock price from the previous day's closing price. When you hear about a stock being "up for the day," it means the net change was positive.

Hope you must have understood the tables.

Answered by subu , an ibibo Specialist, at 5:22 PM on May 28, 2008

Many newspapers publish in their business sections the stock tables of the various stock exchanges and markets, including the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, and The Nasdaq Stock Market. These tables typically list most of the actively traded public companies in the U.S. and include summaries of how a company's stock performed the previous trading day. They also provide information about any dividend payments and the company's price to earnings (P/E) ratio.

For further information on how to read a stock table, you may wish to visit the website of the New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.sec.go v/answers/stocktables.htm

S tock Market Table Terms

(1) Hi-Lo. The first column is the highest and lowest prices at which the stock traded in the past year (52 weeks). In our example, the highest price was $47 and the lowest was $37.

(2) Company Symbol. The second column is the abbreviated name of the firm issuing the stock. The symbol of the company stands next to the abbreviated name. In our case, it is "Z." This symbol is sometimes referred to as the company's "ticker symbol."

(3) Dividends. Dividends are the amount a company pays to its stockholders. The third column is the annual dividend paid per share. In our example, it is $2.30.

(4) Volume. The fourth column, titled "VOL," lists the volume of shares (in hundreds) that were traded that day. In our example, on August 23, 1999, 33,500 shares were traded by XYZ. Volume may give you an indication on the size of the breadth of the market for a company's shares.

(5) The YLD column approximates the dividend yield. The dividend yield is the current return on invested capital. We can use it to compare dividend returns for firms that have different stock prices. We derive the dividend yield by dividing the current dividend by the closing stock price. In our case the dividend yield is 5%, calculated as follows:

Dividend


$2.30


= 5.43%

Price (8th column)


$42.375

(6) The sixth column is the price to earnings (P/E) ratio. The P/E ratio compares the price per share to the earnings per share. It shows how much an investor is willing to pay for $1 of current earnings per share (EPS). The P/E ratio is calculated by dividing the price by the earnings per share (EPS). Applying this formula to our example we get the following:

Price (8th column)


$42.375


= 10


(the stock is selling for 10X the earning ratio)

EPS


$4.23

(7) The seventh column, titled Hi-Lo, represents the highest and lowest prices at which trades were completed during the trading day. In our example, the high was at $43 and the low was at $40.

(8) The eighth column, titled Close, is the last price at which a trade was made during the trading day. In our example it is $42 3/8 ($42.375).

(9) Finally, the ninth column of the table, titled Net Chg, stands for the change between the closing price for the previous day and the current day. Let's say XYZ closed at $41 3/8 on the preceding business day; hence on August 23, 1999 it closed higher by $1. The net change is measured in dollar value.

Note: Many newspapers, such as the Investor's Business Daily, often change the sequence of the provided information. Some newspapers may provide less information (e.g. only providing the closing price and not the high and low for the day).

Answered by shepherd , an ibibo Master, at 9:36 AM on May 28, 2008