From Learning from the Market, © National Council on Economic Education, New York, NY

LESSON SEVEN
VISUAL 1
HOW TO READ A STOCK TABLE

New York Stock Exchange Composite Transactions

Dec. 21, 1995
52 weeks Yld. Vol Net
Hi Lo Stock Sym Div % PE 100s Hi Lo Close Chg

68h 47m AT&T T 1.32 2.0 25 19728 66h 65h 65k –n

80l 48j CocaCola KO .88 1.2 32 20942 77i 74i 74i –3
64i 44l Disney DIS .36 .6 23 12713 60m 59h 59m +h
26j 22l GenMotorpf 1.98 7.5 ... 11 26l 26l 26l —
s66n 37i Pfizer PFE 1.04 1.7 26 12725 63l 61h 61h –1j

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
65
LESSON SEVEN

ACTIVITY 1
HOW TO READ A STOCK TABLE
Name ____________________________ Date _____________________________

New York Stock Exchange Composite Transactions

Dec. 21, 1995
52 weeks Yld. Vol Net
Hi Lo Stock Sym Div % PE 100s Hi Lo Close Chg

68h 47m AT&T T 1.32 2.0 25 19728 66h 65h 65k –n

80l 48j CocaCola KO .88 1.2 32 20942 77i 74i 74i –3
64i 44l Disney DIS .36 .6 23 12713 60m 59h 59m +h
26j 22l GenMotorpf 1.98 7.5 ... 11 26l 26l 26l —
s66n 37i Pfizer PFE 1.04 1.7 26 12725 63l 61h 61h –1j

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1. The small letter s signifies a stock split some-
time during the last 52 weeks. A stock split is the
division of a stock into a larger number of lower-
priced shares. Businesses often split their stocks
to encourage stock sales by reducing the price
per share. For example, a 2-for-1 split means the
company gives you an additional share for every
one you now own. But the company also divides
the price of each share in half. So if a $50 share
is split 2-for-1, at the time of the split you end up
with two shares, each worth $25.
2. These two columns report the highest and low-
est prices of a stock during the last 52 weeks.
(Some newspapers do not list these two
columns.) The highest price of a share of AT&T
(American Telephone and Telegraph) was 68H,
which is 68 dollars and 50 cents. The lowest
price was 47M. Prices are shown in dollars and
fractions of a dollar. For example, I is 25 cents
and K is 12.5 cents. When reading a stock
table, you will want to change fractions into
decimals. Here is a list of all the fractions used
in a stock table to express the prices of stocks:
O = .063 K = .125 I = .25 H = .50
L = .375 J = .75
M = .625
N = .875
3. This column is headed by the word stock. It
presents an abbreviated name of the com-
pany issuing the stock.
4. If the letters pf appear immediately after the
company’s name, that stock is a preferred
stock. Otherwise, the stock is a common
stock. Preferred stocks have “preferred treat-
ment” when they are compared with common
stocks. They usually pay a fixed dividend,
which must be paid before common stocks
can receive any dividends. Should the com-
pany go bankrupt, preferred shareholders
would receive payment prior to common
stockholders. Holders of common stock own
all of the profit remaining after preferred
stockholders receive their dividends. The
more profit a company earns, the more profit
there is for common stockholders. But if a
company loses money, owners of common
stock share that loss up to the amount they
have invested in the stock. So owners of com-
mon stock bear most of the company’s risk.
In return, they stand to gain the most if the
company is profitable. In addition, a share of
common stock usually allows its owner to
vote for a company’s top officials, the board
of directors.

66 From Learning from the Market, © National Council on Economic Education, New York, NY
LESSON SEVEN
ACTIVITY 1 (CON TIN UED)
5. These letters refer to the stock symbol for
the company. You will use the symbol when
buying or selling shares of stock in The Stock
Market Game. The symbol for Pfizer is PFE,
for example.
6. The number in this column shows the divi-
dend paid for each share of stock. The divi-
dend is stated as an annual disbursement
based on the last monthly, quarterly, semian-
nual, or annual payout. Most dividends are
paid quarterly, or four times a year. The annu-
al dividend for General Motors preferred
stock is $1.98. To find the quarterly dividend,
divide by four. The quarterly dividend is 49H
cents. Some companies do not pay dividends.
7. This column reports the percentage yield,
which is the amount of dividends received
per share of stock compared with the price of
that stock. The yield is calculated by dividing
the dividend per share of stock by the last
(closing) price of the stock and then multiply-
ing by 100 to obtain a percentage. For exam-
ple, Coca-Cola has a dividend of $.88. In the
column headed close at the far right is a last
or closing price of $74.25. By using these two
numbers, you calculate the yield on Coca-
Cola’s stock as follows:
Percentage Yield 5
(dividend 4 closing price) 3 100 5
($.88 4 $74.25) 3 100 5
0.12 3 100 5 1.2%
8. PE stands for price-earnings ratio or P-E
ratio. This ratio measures how many times
greater the stock price is than the earnings
per share. The P-E ratio is calculated by
dividing the stock’s last (closing) price by the
earnings per share for the latest year. For
example, Pfizer shows a price-earnings ratio
of 26. This number means that the stock’s last
or closing price of 61H or $61.50 was 26
times the company’s earnings per share for
the latest year.
Last price $ 61.50
P-E Ratio 5 5 5 26
Earnings per share $ 2.36
From Learning from the Market, © National Council on Economic Education, New York, NY
Investors often use the price-earnings ratio to
compare a particular company to other busi-
nesses in the same industry.
9. This column shows the volume of shares
traded, in hundreds of shares. To compute the
actual number of shares traded, you multiply
the number given in this column by 100. For
example, the Walt Disney Company shows the
number 12713. This figure means that on this
particular trading day 12713 x 100 =
1,271,300 shares of the company’s stock were
traded.
10. These two columns report the highest and
lowest prices paid for the stock on this par-
ticular trading day. For example, the highest
price for a share of American Telephone and
Telegraph stock was 66H or $66.50. The low-
est price was 65H or $65.50.
11. The close (or closing price) shows the price
of a share of stock in its last trade at the close
of the market on this particular day. The last
price paid for a share of Disney on this trad-
ing day was 59M or $59.62.
12. This column reports any change in a
stock’s price. This number in this column is
the difference between the last price of a
stock on this particular trading day and the
last price on the previous day. For example, a
share of Coca-Cola stock decreased by $3.
This change means that the last price of
$74.25 on this trading day (Dec. 21) was $3
lower than the last price of the stock on the
prior trading day of Dec. 20.
67
LESSON SEVEN

ACTIVITY 2
READING A STOCK PAGE
Name ____________________________ Date _____________________________
Instructions: Use the stock table below to answer each of the following questions.

New York Stock Exchange Composite Transactions

Tues., Dec. 20, 1995

1. What is the stock symbol for Pier 1?______________________________________________

2. How many shares of PerkElmer were traded on December 20, 1995? ____________________

3. What is the P-E ratio for PepsiCo? _______________________________________________

4. How much higher is PepsiCo today than it was at its low for the past 52 weeks? ____________

5. Which stock has the highest yield? _______________________________________________

6. Which stock has the highest P-E ratio?____________________________________________

7. What was today’s closing price for PhilipMor? ______________________________________

8. What was yesterday’s (Mon., Dec. 19) closing price for Pfizer?__________________________

9. How much would you have to pay for 500 shares of

PepsiCo stock at today’s closing price? ____________________________________________

10. Which three companies have preferred stock? ______________________________________

11. If you bought 100 shares of PhilipsNV at the lowest price of the year and sold
it at the highest price for the year, how much capital gain would you make? _______________

68 From Learning from the Market, © National Council on Economic Education, New York, NY
LESSON SEVEN

ACTIVITY 3
THE SCAVENGER HUNT
Name ____________________________ Date _____________________________
Instructions: Use the financial tables of a daily newspaper to answer each of the questions below.

1. The stock prices in your newspaper are from the previous day. So the stock prices in
the newspaper you are using now are actually for what day? ___________________________

2. There are three major stock markets in the United States, two of which are located in
New York City. What are the names of the three different stock markets? If your
newspaper lists only their abbreviated names, write those down and ask your teacher
to write the full names on the chalkboard. _________________________________________

3. Complete the following table by finding each stock in the stock tables
of your newspaper.

Abbreviated
Name of
Stock Name Strock Market the Company

Apple Computer
International Business Machines
Hasbro, Inc.
Coca-Cola

4. Identify a company that has both common and preferred stock listed in the stock tables.______

5. Identify a company whose stock was split during the last 52 weeks. ______________________

6. Find the stock listing for Hershey Foods. Answer the following questions:
a. What is the abbreviation listed in your paper? ____________________________________
b. What was the highest price paid for this stock during the last year? ____________________
c. What was the dividend paid for each share of Hershey’s stock? _______________________
d. How many shares of Hershey’s stock were traded? _________________________________
e. What was the highest price paid for Hershey’s stock on this trading day?________________
f. What was the lowest price paid for Hershey’s stock on this trading day? ________________
g. How much did the closing price of Hershey’s stock change from the day before? __________

From Learning from the Market, © National Council on Economic Education, New York, NY 69
LESSON SEVEN

ACTIVITY 1 (CON TIN UED)

7. Besides listing stocks, most newspapers also present various tables and other information
that relate to the stock markets. For example, newspapers often summarize events in
the stock markets by showing the number of shares traded in each stock market. They
also show the most actively traded stocks in the three stock markets. Find these tables
and answer the following questions:
a. How many shares of stock were traded on the New York Stock Exchange
on this trading day? _________________________________________________________
b. Which stock was the most actively traded stock on the American Stock Exchange
on this trading day? _________________________________________________________

8. How do you think a newspaper stock table can help when you play
The Stock Market Game? _______________________________________________________
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70 From Learning from the Market, © National Council on Economic Education, New York, NY