Shares are one of those terms that many people have come to know and love, yet at the same time confuse. Stocks are all of the publicly traded shares in a company that are owned by the shareholders. In American English, this terminology is called “common stock”. A single share of this stock represents a fractional ownership in ratio to the outstanding shares of the company.
Stocks are sold or bought in the open market, so they are subject to change in value as a result of changes in the business and economic climate. The price of any share will rise and fall in relation to the overall stock market value. The price of a stock will also be affected by what the company is doing and how they are marketing their stocks. As well as these, dividends are also an important way that shareholders of a company can receive money from the company.
Dividends are received from the shareholder when the company makes a profit. If there are not enough shareholders to support a dividend payment, the board of directors will issue a stock dividend to all shareholders. When the company issues dividends, most companies publish their information on the stock exchange. Once you buy or sell stocks on the stock exchange, you will see a symbol next to the name of the issuing company. This symbol will give you a general idea of what type of stock you are looking at.