Select one (1) U.S. based, publicly held company that has a large shareholder population. (Examples: Procter and Gamble, Exxon Mobile, Home Depot, Walgreens, ConAgra, Union Pacific Railroad, Wells Fargo, Berkshire Hathaway, etc.). You may wish to go to the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, and/or any other investment newspaper, broker website, or internet source for concrete information and visual examples. If you work for a publicly traded company, you may want to choose that company. Most companies have an internet site.
Assume that you invested $10,000 in this company on January 1 of this year, or at some point at least 6 months prior to now.
Respond to all of the following items by number.
1. What stock did you purchase, how many shares at what share price, and at what total cost? Get as close to $10,000 as you can without fractional shares.
2. How many shares do you hold at this point in time, at what share price, and at what total value?
3. How did you buy shares? A broker (full service or discount), through your 401(k) plan, through your IRA or Roth IRA? (If a commission was paid, please add the commission to your purchase cost)
4. Did you receive any dividends during your holding period? If so, please add those to your current value.
5. Describe the paper profit or loss from your investment at this point in time.
6. Are you required to pay taxes on your investment or dividends? If so, please describe.
7. Please describe what you have learned about investing in the stock of publicly traded companies.