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A stock symbol or ticker symbol is a shorthand code used to uniquely identify shares of a publicly-traded corporation on a particular stock market.
A stock symbol may consist of letters, numbers or a combination of both.
U.S stock symbol history
In the United States, modern letter-only ticker symbols were developed by Standard & Poor's (S&P) to bring a national standard to investing. Previously, a single company could have many different ticker symbols as they varied between the dozens of individual stock markets. The term ticker refers to the noise made by the ticker tape machines once widely used by stock exchanges.
The S&P system was later standardized by the securities industry and modified as years passed. Stock symbols for preferred stock have not been standardized *.
Examples of U.S. stock symbols
| # of Letters | Exchange | 1 | NYSE |
| 2 | NYSE or AMEX |
| 3 | NYSE or AMEX |
| 4 | Nasdaq |
| 5 or more | (special) |
- A - Agilent Technologies
- BRK.A - Berkshire Hathaway (class A shares)
- KO - Coca-Cola Company
- MSFT - Microsoft
- TGT - Target Corporation
Currently a glance at a U.S. stock symbol and its appended codes can tell an investor where a stock trades and may give insight to the company's performance.
Interpreting the symbol
Stock symbols are unique identifiers assigned to each security traded on a market. NASDAQ symbols are four or five characters in length, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) symbols are one to three characters long, American Stock Exchange (AMEX) symbols are two or three characters, and Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB) symbols are four or five. These letter counts apply to the underlying company, but not always to the entire stock symbol. For example, PCG is the three letter symbol for Pacific Gas & Electric Company, which trades on the NYSE. But PCG-D is Pacific Gas & Electric's preferred D shares, which trade on the AMEX.Influence
Sometimes the stock symbol has become more recognizable than a company's real name. For instance, more people knew the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company by the way its three-letter ticker ("MMM") is pronounced "3M" on Wall Street, leading to an official name change in 2002. Likewise, International Business Machines officially changed its corporate name to "IBM" to match its ticker symbol.Other companies use a well-known product as their ticker symbol. Anheuser-Busch, the brewers of Budweiser beer, uses "BUD" as its three-letter ticker, symbolising its premier product. Genentech uses the symbol "DNA," relating to their biochemical research, while Southwest Airlines pays tribute to its headquarters at Love Field in Dallas through its "LUV" symbol.
Prior to the 1999 merger with Mobil Oil, Exxon used a phonetic spelling of the company "XON" as its ticker symbol. The new firm is known as "XOM". AT&T's ticker symbol is simply "T"; accordingly, the company is referred to simply as "Telephone" on Wall Street (the T symbol is so well-known that when the company was purchased by SBC, it took the AT&T name to capitalize on its history and to obtain the desired single letter symbol).
After Hewlett-Packard merged with Compaq computer, the new firm took on the ticker symbol "HPQ". (The former firms were HWP and CPQ.)
| NYSE "behind the dot" or Nasdaq 5th-letter codes and other special codes | ||
|---|---|---|
| A - Class "A" | K - Nonvoting (common) | U - Units |
| B - Class "B" | L - Miscellaneous | V - Pending issue and distribution |
| C - Continuance - or Nasdaq exception | M - 4th class - preferred shares | W - Warrants |
| D - New issue | N - 3rd class - preferred shares | X - Mutual fund |
| E - Delinquent SEC filings | O - 2nd class - preferred shares | Y - American Depositary Receipt (ADR) |
| F - Foreign | P - 1st class preferred shares | Z - Miscellaneous situations |
| G - First convertible bond | Q - In bankruptcy | Special codes |
| H - 2nd convertible bond | R - Rights | .PK - A Pink Sheet, indicating over-the-counter |
| I - 3rd convertible bond | S - Shares of beneficial interest | SC - Nasdaq Small Cap |
| J - Voting share - special | T - With warrants or rights | NM - Nasdaq National Market |
See also
External links
"Ticker symbol"