Need help with stocks

[darkfrosty]

My mother was given physical stock certificates in the 80s. She wants to sell them but has no idea what she has because the company has split many times since then. She set it up so that any dividends just got reinvested. Chase said we could bring them the certificate and they could track everything down .. for a fee of course but they wont say how much. Is this the best way to go about it or is there another way?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

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@darkfrosty wrote:

My mother was given physical stock certificates in the 80s. She wants to sell them but has no idea what she has because the company has split many times since then. She set it up so that any dividends just got reinvested. Chase said we could bring them the certificate and they could track everything down .. for a fee of course but they wont say how much. Is this the best way to go about it or is there another way?

Thanks

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I pray everything works out for you. 

[tacpoly]

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@darkfrosty wrote:

My mother was given physical stock certificates in the 80s. She wants to sell them but has no idea what she has because the company has split many times since then. She set it up so that any dividends just got reinvested. Chase said we could bring them the certificate and they could track everything down .. for a fee of course but they wont say how much. Is this the best way to go about it or is there another way?

Thanks

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there are several ways to go about figuring out what you have:

you can figure out the actual value using yahoo finance or google finance.  there should a date on when the certificate was issued/purchased.  then you can look up the (split-adjusted) price on that day.  then you can look up the split history on this site:  https://www.stocksplithistory.com/  and calculate the number of share you have post-splits.  using these numbers, you can calculate the cost basis for the original purchase. 

the reinvested dividends (assuming purchasing more of this stock) are a little more difficult, but the total stock purchased with the dividends should be on her brokerage statement.  as for the cost basis for each dividend purchase hopefully she kept the statements that were sent to her with each stock purchase from dividends.  you can figure it out; even if you don't get it exactly right, you should be in the ballpark.

note that some companies spin off subsidiaries so you may have stock from that.  that will be separate from the original stock, but something to look out for. 

however, the easiest way to figure out value is to deposit the stock certificates to your brokerage account (i'd be inclined to do this in person as it is equvalent to cash).  the firm will have to figure out the current value to electronically put it into your account. also when you said "Chase" I assume you mean JP Morgan - the investment arm of JP Morgan Chase.  if you already have a JP Morgan account or any other brokerage account, then go there.  if not, a discounted broker like Fidelity or Schwab is good - they charge less than the full-service brokerages for almost all their services.  my guess is that they wouldn't even charge you outside their regular transactional costs (i.e. buying stock). 

 edit:  you could also post the company name and purchase date and have the forum help you figure it out. 

[darkfrosty]

Thank you for the informational reply

The stock is AT&T and it was 1986. The guy who told us this was from our local Chase bank branch. He was the CPC / financial guy.

I know it split off into Lucent and NCR which arent around anymore but they might have split as well into other things.

[tacpoly]

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@darkfrosty wrote:

Thank you for the informational reply

The stock is AT&T and it was 1986. The guy who told us this was from our local Chase bank branch. He was the CPC / financial guy.

I know it split off into Lucent and NCR which arent around anymore but they might have split as well into other things.

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good news! all info on ATT stock, including historical dividend and splits is on the ATT site:  http://www.att.com/gen/investor-relations?pid=18759

so assuming you bought 10 shares of ATT Inc on June 20, 1986, the split-adjusted price $8.28 - $8.52 (let's assume $8.50).  Historical splits for T is 3 for 1 in 1987, 2 for 1 in 1993, and 2 for 1 in 1998.  That means your 10 shares became 30 in 1987, then 60 in 1993, and finally 120 in 1998. So:

cost basis = 120 x $8.50

fair market value = 120 x $33.23 (as of 03/20/15 4:02 p.m. ET)

as for dividends, you can calculate using historical dividend data - a matter of plowing through it - or look at your statements because that will give more details re reinvestments.  you should have a record of how many more shares you've purchased with dividend earnings over time.  (when i say "you" i mean your mother)

[darkfrosty]

Thanks for the info. The stock certificate is for 290 shares in 1990. So that would mean that we have 1,160 shares. She swears that the stock is older than that .. but I told her that the date on the certificate is 1990. Sucks that she missed out on the 3 -1 split.

I wasnt referring to the amount of att shares .. more so of every company and then the companies that those companies split into etc .

Oh I also foudn the stock certificate for Lucent technologies(which i dont believe is even around anymore) .. 95 shares and it is dated 1996

I wish she would just sign it over to me lol.

[tacpoly]

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@darkfrosty wrote:

Thanks for the info. The stock certificate is for 290 shares in 1990. So that would mean that we have 1,160 shares. She swears that the stock is older than that .. but I told her that the date on the certificate is 1990. Sucks that she missed out on the 3 -1 split.

I wasnt referring to the amount of att shares .. more so of every company and then the companies that those companies split into etc .

Oh I also foudn the stock certificate for Lucent technologies(which i dont believe is even around anymore) .. 95 shares and it is dated 1996

I wish she would just sign it over to me lol.

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I don't understand what you mean by missing out on the spin-offs.  You're still entitled to those shares.  If you had the shares in your account, any spin-off's stocks get automatically issued to you, so the same should have happened with the paper certificates. 

I bet your Lucent stocks came from your ATT stocks.  Lucent was spun-off from ATT in 1996.  From your Lucent stocks, you should have gotten some other spin-off stocks (Avaya, Agere) as well.  Lucent is still around as Lucent-Alcatel. 

Your mother should have all these in her possession - I hope.  And if she's convinced she's had ATT stock for much longer, she may have, but she needs to locate those certificates.  Remember, she supposedly has the dividends reinvested so she was buying more stock over time...

She really should just go to a her brokerage firm, deposit everything and go electronic so everything is in one place.  It's not helpful to keep paper certificates when she doesn't keep good records - everything just gets discombobulated.  The thing with investments is that they take some effort to keep straight.  It's really not a good idea to just ignore them for years and years - it's one of those common Hollywood scenarios but in general not a good idea. 

[darkfrosty]

Yea that is probably what we are going to do. Which brokerage would you recommend setting up an account with? Also If her names are on the certificates could she deposit it into my brokerage account? just curious. Btw thanks so much for all your help.

[tacpoly]

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@darkfrosty wrote:

Yea that is probably what we are going to do. Which brokerage would you recommend setting up an account with? Also If her names are on the certificates could she deposit it into my brokerage account? just curious. Btw thanks so much for all your help.

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Actually, I was just looking at the ATT website and under Stockholder Services / Stockholder Information (http://www.att.com/gen/investor-relations?pid=5659) there is a section on Depositing Stock Certificates.  I would call Computershare, which seems to be administering ATT stock, at the phone number provided and ask them all your questions.  You may have to establish an account with them.  DO NOT ENDORSE the certificates when you deposit it.

The site also has a section in tranferring shares.  If you don't want to use Computershare, your mom can transfer the stock to you when she endorses the certificates.  Her signature on the back must match the signature on the front.  I would do this at the brokerage offices in front of the guy recording the transfer / processing the transaction. 

I've had a Schwab and Fidelity account.  Both are pretty good although I get better customer service on the phone with Schwab.  I've also had a Computershare account as they were the administrators for my company's ESPP.  They're a little bare bones but give you all the info you need. I wouldn't recommend a full-service brokerage firm unless you have lots of money as their fees are high.