How to Read a Stock Quote

This is the shorthand symbol used to identify the stock when looking it up for research or purchase. For stocks the symbol is usually 1–4 letters long, although it can be longer.

• Logo

• Stock Pic

• Ticker

• Stox

This is the most recent price available. If markets are currently open, this price will be either real-time or delayed by 15 minutes. If markets are closed, this is typically the closing price from the most recent day of trading.

• Current Price

• Price Change

• Stat Price

• Market Price

This shows how much the price has changed today (if markets are open) or during the most recent day of trading (if markets are closed). This is quoted in dollars and also percent.

• Now Price

• Money Price

• Current Price

• Price Change

These show the stock’s trading range for the day by providing where it opened, the maximum price it reached, and the minimum price it reached.

• Open/High/Low

• Left/Right/Center

• Trading Range

• Average Price

This is the total value of all the shares of a publicly traded company. Mathematically, it’s the number of shares multiplied by the price per share.

When investors talk about this they’re simply discussing how big a company is.

• Stock Size

• Market Cap

• Stock Category

• Asset Utilization

This is one of the most popular value metrics that investors use to try and determine if a stock is cheap or expensive. It represents the price of one share divided by the earnings per share for the last 12 months.

• Profit Ratio

• Cost-Risk Ratio

• Asset Ratio

• Price-Earnings Ratio

This is a measure of how much return the dividend will provide, relative to the current stock price. It divides the next 12 months of dividend income by the current share price.

• Price Change

• Price-Earnings Ratio

• Dividend Yield

• Open/High/Low

This is the final closing price from the most recent day of trading. From Tuesday to Friday, this is usually the previous calendar day. On Monday, it’s usually last Friday’s closing price.

• 52-Week High and 52-Week Low

• Open/High/Low

• Current Price

• Previous Close