How do I sell a stock certificate?

[dxkj]

I have a piece of paper that I need to sign, etc, in order to sell. How does one go about selling a stock certificate?

 

[HappyPuppy]

I'm just guessing, but you could probably take it to any brokerage house for redemption. They will probably charge you a transaction fee.

Anybody know for sure?

 

[burnedout]

There are a couple of ways to sell. One method, like HappyPuppy says, is the traditional method through a local broker such as Schwab, Edward Jones, etc. You sign the back essentially transferring ownership. Look at brokerage fees and transfer fees before going this route.

The second method involves a transfer agent and requires more time. If the company has a DRIP then contact the transfer agent, enroll in the plan and sign the back of the certificate along with a plan enrollment application. This method takes longer although nowadays things occur much quicker because many transfer agents allow online transactions and have online enrollment forms. In some cases costs can be about the same as a broker depending on postage and fees.

 

[TGregg]

Originally posted by: dxkj
I have a piece of paper that I need to sign, etc, in order to sell. How does one go about selling a stock certificate?

You be sure you know the proper price of that cerificate before you sell it. I dunno how old it is, but I've heard stories of folks with ancient stock certificates that sold them and got hosed, as the stock had split many times since the original purchase. If it's relatively recently purchased (like in the last 10 years), you can check in a variety of places like www.yahoo.com (click on finacials) or investor.msn.com.

How Stock Splits Work: On occasion, a company will decide that since investors are tightwads, they need to lower their stock price. They do this by creating more stock. And they give a certain amount of the new stock to all shareholders. Imagine that you owned MSFT and they announced a 3 for 1 split. For every share you had of MSFT, you now would have three. And the share price on NASDAQ would drop to a third (about).

What that means to you is, if you have a share in some big famous company from 1900, and it has split say, 20 times, you may have a certificate worth a small fortune. On the other hand, if the company went under, you have a certificate that might be worth something - to a museum.

HTH,
T

 

[dxkj]

XOM, got the stock as a gift from my grandmother in 2001

 

[burnedout]

Originally posted by: dxkj
XOM, got the stock as a gift from my grandmother in 2001

Is the certificate still in her name?

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: burnedout

Originally posted by: dxkj
XOM, got the stock as a gift from my grandmother in 2001

Is the certificate still in her name?

no, she had it signed over to me.

 

[MustISO]

There was a split in july of 2001 2:1. So you may have double what the cetificate says (depending on when it was purchased) at a price of $41.66 (right now)