Shares outstanding are all the shares of a corporation that have been authorized, issued and purchased by investors and are held by them. They are distinguished from treasury shares, which are shares held by the corporation itself, thus representing no exercisable rights. Shares outstanding and treasury shares together amount to the number of issued shares.
Shares outstanding can be calculated as either basic or fully diluted. The basic count is the current number of shares. Dividend distributions and voting in the general meeting of shareholders are calculated according to this number. The fully diluted shares outstanding count, on the other hand, includes diluting securities, such as warrants, capital notes or convertibles. If the company has any diluting securities, this indicates the potential future increased number of shares outstanding.
Finding the number of shares outstanding
The number of outstanding shares may change due to changes in the number of issued shares, as well as the change in treasury shares. Both can occur at any time of the year. There are several useful public sources to find the number of shares outstanding of a given corporation.
Public traded companies' investor relations
The financial reporting obligation of the publicly traded company also ensures the publication of issued and outstanding shares. The reports are usually available in the investor relations section of the company's website. Web directories are supporting direct access to company websites.[1] Publicly traded companies bundle the reports in the investor relations section, e.g. Deutsche Bank,[2] Eni S.p.a.,[3] AB InBev,[4]
See also
External links
References
- Yahoo Finance - Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News finance.yahoo.com^
- Investor Relations Deutsche Bank^
- Investor Relations Eni^