Stock

A stock is a unit of ownership in a company — If you own a stock, that makes you a shareholder, meaning that you may be eligible to receive dividends if the company succeeds and you may have a vote in some company decisions. Stocks are an important part of the global economy, allowing companies to raise money for the operation of their businesses by selling shares (or pieces of ownership) to the public. Shares can be bought or sold via an exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Nasdaq. In limited cases, stocks can be sold privately. Specific regulations set by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) govern how companies can manage or distribute their stocks. Stocks can be either common stock, which gives shareholders voting rights on certain company decisions, or preferred stock, which gives shareholders no voting rights, but often guarantees them fixed dividend payment in perpetuity.

Corporations issue (sell) stock to raise funds to operate their businesses. The holder of stock (a shareholder) has now bought a piece of the corporation and, depending on the type of shares held, may have a claim to a part of its assets and earnings. In other words, a shareholder is now an owner of the issuing company. Ownership is determined by the number of shares a person owns relative to the number of outstanding shares. For example, if a company has 1,000 shares of stock outstanding and one person owns 100 shares, that person would own and have claim to 10% of the company's assets and earnings. Stock holders do not own corporations; they own shares issued by corporations. But corporations are a special type of organization because the law treats them as legal persons. In other words, corporations file taxes, can borrow, can own property, can be sued, etc. The idea that a corporation is a “person” means that the corporation owns its own assets. A corporate office full of chairs and tables belongs to the corporation, and not to the shareholders.

Key Facts on Stocks<re>Key things to know about stocks Nerdwallet</ref>

• Investors who do best over the long term buy and hold. That means they own a diversified portfolio of many stocks and hold on to them through good times and bad.
• Investing in individual stocks takes time. You should research each stock you purchase, which includes a deep dive into the bones of the company and its financials. Many investors opt to save time by investing in stocks through equity mutual funds, index funds and ETFs instead. These allow you to purchase many stocks in a single transaction, offering instant diversification and reducing the amount of legwork it takes to invest.
• There are two main types of stocks: common and preferred. Most investors own common stock in a public company. Common stock may pay dividends, but dividends are not guaranteed and the amount of the dividend is not fixed. Preferred stocks typically pay fixed dividends, so owners can count on a set amount of income from the stock each year. Owners of preferred stock also stand at the front of the line when it comes to the company’s earnings: Excess cash distributed by dividend is paid to preferred shareholders first, and if the company goes bankrupt, preferred-stock owners receive any liquidation of assets ahead of common-stock owners.