Frequently Asked Questions

Here are frequently asked questions about the Historical Stock Info Website

What is the purpose of this site?

Ask QuestionsWe created this site to provide a resource for those interested in determining historical prices and other information, in order to figure their cost or basis in a company for  which we provide information..
We feel that armed with this information, the job of figuring one’s cost basis is made easier. Most who utilize this site will be tax or financial professionals, however non-professionals can get quite a bit of helpful information here. Also, collecting actual records of buys, sells, re-invested dividends,and other transactions would be the ideal first step in figuring your basis. Unfortunately in many cases this information is not available.

 

What is the source of your stock price history information?

We derived Stock Prices from archived issues of the NY Times, Standard and Poor’s Stock Price Record, Yahoo Finance historical quotes, and from various Shareholder Services pages available on the internet from surviving companies, for example, AT&T inc, has stock and dividend history available for AT&T Inc (new), Ameritech, BellSouth, Pacfic Bell, and SNET. Verizon also has information on Verizon,Bell Atlantic, NYNEX and GTE. Information on both these sites is adjusted for splits. See each company’s front page on this site for pertinent links.

What is the source of our stock split, merger, acquisition and spin-off type information?

We researched this type information using the CCH Capital Changes Reporter. If you have any questions relating to the taxablity of any acquisition, merger, spin-off, or split-off, this resource is essential research.

What methodology is used to estimate the dividend purchase price?

The price of a stock when the dividend is paid and used to buy re-invested dividends is not easily determined.
Depending on if your stock is held by the company itself or by a brokerage house the dates and amounts will vary. Therefore, if your stock is held by the company itself, they will have a policy in place as to what date and at what price the dividends will actually purchase more stock.
    Ameritech’s company policy, for example, stated, “If shares are purchased in the open market, the price of common stock will be the average cost including brokerage commissions, incurred to purchase the shares during the investment period.” “The investment period for reinvested dividends will include the dividend payment date and the four preceding business days.”  They further stated that “If shares are purchased directly from Ameritech, the price will be the average of the high and low sales prices of Ameritech common stock on the NYSE-Composite Transaction on the day of purchase..”
    If shares were held for you by a brokerage house, their policy, discounts, commissions, etc. would also affect when and at what price the shares would be purchased.
    Given the complexity of determining each situation we elected to make the assumption that shares purchased by re-invested dividends were purchased on the dividend payment day if a market day, or the next market day if not. We generally used the closing price on the market day preceding the dividend payment day.

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