What are Shares Outstanding? 2022 Robinhood

Determining a company’s market capitalization and earnings per share are critical components of smart investors’ analysis process. Assume that a state has authorized a corporation to issue 100,000 shares of common stock. The corporation has issued 20,000 of those shares to investors and received $2,000,000. At this point, the corporation has 20,000 shares issued and outstanding.

If a company reports diluted shares, it may indicate more shares will be added in the future. Shares outstanding can be calculated as either basic or fully diluted. Dividend distributions and voting in the general meeting of shareholders are calculated according to this number.

The term shares outstanding is defined as the total number of shares a company has issued to date, after subtracting the number of shares repurchased. Shares Outstanding represent all of the units of ownership issued by a company, excluding any shares repurchased by the issuer (i.e. treasury stock). Floating stock is a narrower way of analyzing a company’s stock by shares. It excludes closely held shares, which are stock shares held by company insiders or controlling investors.

What is the difference between shares outstanding and floating stock?

Often, a company does this to meet listing requirements, which often require a minimum share price. A company’s outstanding shares decrease when there is a reverse stock split. A company generally embarks on a reverse split or share consolidation to bring its share price into the minimum range necessary to satisfy exchange listing requirements.

A financial plan is a roadmap for understanding your current financial situation, as well as your goals and strategies to achieve them. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Get stock recommendations, portfolio guidance, and more from The Motley Fool’s premium services. The larger stock market is made up of multiple sectors you may want to invest in. Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.

Total outstanding shares decrease if there is a reverse stock split or when a company buys back outstanding shares of its own stock. Outstanding shares represent a company’s shares that are held by investors, whether they’re individual, institutional, or insiders. Investors can find the total number of outstanding shares a company has on its balance sheet. Outstanding shares can also be used to calculate some key financial metrics, including a company’s market cap and its earnings per share. They are separate from treasury shares, which are held by the company itself.

Weighted Average of Outstanding Shares

A company’s issued shares count includes any shares that a company has bought back from investors or employees and holds in its own treasury. One is that knowing the shares outstanding can help investors find the market capitalization (total value) of a business. Multiply the share price by the number of shares outstanding to find a company’s market capitalization. The number of shares of common stock outstanding is shown in the stockholders’ equity section of the balance sheet. The weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the year is used to compute the corporation’s earnings per share often shown at the bottom of the corporation’s annual income statement.

These types of investors typically include officers, directors, and company foundations. Recognizing that a company’s number of shares outstanding can change is also useful. For example, the difference between the number of shares currently outstanding and the number of shares fully diluted is comparatively likely to be significant for fast-growing technology companies. These companies aggressively fund their growth by using convertible debt and paying employees with stock incentives. By contrast, many older stalwart companies are likely to have a number of shares outstanding that matches its number of shares fully diluted. The image below shows a section of Apple’s (AAPL -0.2%) balance sheet from 2016 through 2020.

Authorized Shares vs. Shares Outstanding

If you’re interested in learning about common stock, you may also in learning about the best broker available for your needs, so visit our broker center to discover the possibilities. Victoria Duff specializes in entrepreneurial subjects, drawing on her experience as an acclaimed start-up facilitator, venture catalyst and investor relations manager. This date discrepancy could cause the filer to report different values across the two locations. An angel investor provides financing to a startup, usually at an early stage, in exchange for an ownership stake.

Outstanding shares represent the number of a company’s shares that are traded on the secondary market and, therefore, are available to investors. Businesses repurchase stock to increase the price of the remaining outstanding shares. They may also repurchase stock if management feels the company is undervalued. If the shares appreciate, the business makes a profit by investing in itself.

How to Find Number of Shares Outstanding

It also improves metrics such as earnings per share because fewer shares are outstanding. Businesses can do a stock split using almost any ratio of old stock to new stock. For example, a 2-for-1 split doubles the number of shares outstanding.

If a company decides to sell treasury stock, those shares will convert to outstanding shares. When a business wants to raise capital by selling a portion of the company’s ownership, it can issue shares. It comes up with a set number of shares to divide the company into and can sell those shares as it sees fit. The business does not have to sell all of the shares it creates and can retain some. The total number of shares outstanding is the number of shares that external investors, as well as insiders such as executives or employees, own. A company’s number of shares outstanding is used to calculate many widely used financial metrics.

The stock exchange the company trades on will also report the number of outstanding shares. Outstanding shares reflect the total share count of a company’s stock. Investors can find a company’s number of outstanding shares reported on its financial statements. Authorized shares represent the maximum number of shares a company can issue. A company may authorize 5 million shares for an initial public offering, but only sell 4 million shares. The number of authorized shares is equal to or larger than the number of outstanding shares.

It could reduce its count of shares outstanding by starting a share buyback program. In the above example, if the reporting periods were each half of a year, the resulting weighted average of outstanding shares would be equal to 150,000. Thus, in revisiting the EPS calculation, $200,000 divided by the 150,000 weighted average of outstanding shares would equal $1.33 in earnings per share. The term ‘outstanding shares’ does not equal the float, which does not include shares owned by insiders and officers or restricted shares. When a company issues more shares from treasury stock, the ownership percentage of existing shareholders is reduced. When a company buys back stock, the ownership percentage of shareholders increases.

A publicly-traded company can directly influence how many shares it has outstanding. Shares outstanding are the basis of several key financial metrics and can be useful for tracking a company’s operating performance. Float is the number of shares that can be traded in the public market.

A company may have 100 million shares outstanding, but if 95 million of these shares are held by insiders and institutions, the float of only five million may constrain the stock’s liquidity. Preferred shares don’t usually come with voting rights, but shareholders receive dividend payments before common stockholders what is a ledger account do. Preferred shareholders also have priority over common shareholders if the company goes bankrupt and its assets are liquidated. Outstanding shares are the total amount of company stock that has ever been issued and is currently owned by the corporation’s stockholders, or any external party.

• That means that investors only need a minimum of $100 to purchase a share, not counting any potential trading fees.
• As noted above, outstanding shares are used to determine very important financial metrics for public companies.
• An angel investor provides financing to a startup, usually at an early stage, in exchange for an ownership stake.
• By contrast, a reverse stock split occurs when a company seeks to elevate its share price.
• Authorized shares represent the maximum number of shares a company can issue.
• Outstanding shares include all of a company’s shares held by shareholders as well as all the restricted shares owned by company insiders.

In some cases, a corporation will need or want to issue more shares than currently authorized by their Articles of Incorporation. Before they can begin issuing new shares, the current shareholders need to give their approval and the number of authorized shares listed in the Articles of Incorporation will need to be increased. The number of authorized shares can be substantially greater than the number of shares outstanding since authorized shares represent the maximum possible number of shares a company can issue. The outstanding number of shares may be either equal to or less than the number of authorized shares. For example, a company might authorize 10 million shares to be created for its IPO, but end up actually only issuing nine million of the shares.