How to Read the Newspaper Stock Table

The 52 week high and low columns show the highest and lowest price of the issue during the preceding 52 weeks plus the current week, but not the current trading day.

Stock gives the name of the stock or an abbreviation of the stock name.

Sym stands for symbol and is the "ticker" for the stock. This is what you need to order stock. (It is not listed in the local papers.)

Dividend is the cash amount of money that the company will pay you each year for each share of stock you own.

Percent Yield is calculated by dividing the dividend by the closing price.

PE is the price-earnings ratio. It is the price of the stock divided by the earnings for that year.

Volume is the amount of stocks that were traded the day before. The number is given in hundreds. (If there is a z in front of the number, this is the actual number.)

High and Low are the highest and lowest prices of the stock the day before.

Close is the price at which the stock sold at the end of the previous day.

Net Change is the change of the price of the stock from the previous day. It tells you whether the price is dropping or rising.

 

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