There is a specific number of stocks for each publicly traded company, right? With all the avenues of trading, how are there never shortages of a stock?
In: Economics
Every publicly traded company has a “transfer agent” – a company that specializing in the record keeping for the company’s stock. Whenever shares are issued by the company (such as when a company executive exercises stock options awarded as part of the executive’s compensation), the transfer agent is who records the new shares and makes them available for trading.
The second part of the system that makes this all work is the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). For most U.S. publicly traded companies, most of the company’s stock is held by DTCC (actually, its nominee Cede & Co. is the “registered owner” of the vast majority of a company’s shares). When shares are bought and sold by brokerages, they get moved around on the books of DTCC.
Latest Answers