At any given point, instruments like warrants and stock options must be accounted for as well. Let’s examine how to do this using Apple’s 10-K filing for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2023. The simplest way to obtain the shares outstanding is to look directly on the first page, right before the table of contents. In the case of Apple, this shows that the company had 15,552,752,000 shares of common stock “issued and outstanding” as of October 20th, 2023.

Outstanding shares vs. stock float

Knowing the number of outstanding shares is important for determining a company’s market capitalization (market cap), which measures a company’s total value. Market cap is the total value of all the company’s outstanding stock, or the total number of outstanding shares times the current stock price. Investors use market cap to categorize companies into large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap companies, which can help guide investors looking to diversify their investments. A stock split occurs when a company increases its shares outstanding without changing its market cap or value. The term outstanding shares refers to a company’s stock currently held by all its shareholders. Outstanding shares include share blocks held by institutional investors and restricted shares owned by the company’s officers and insiders.

Outstanding Shares Definition and How to Locate the Number

• This is a great example of how share-count reductions can be an important tool for management teams to deliver value to shareholders.
• There are also considerations to a company’s outstanding shares if they’re blue chips.
• At the time, GE discussed plans to split into three companies and to divest from many businesses.
• In such cases, even a small amount of buying or selling activity can lead to significant price movements due to the limited number of shares available for trading.

A company’s number of outstanding shares is not static and may fluctuate wildly over time. In financial analysis, understanding the shares outstanding is fundamental to gauging a company’s market value and shareholder equity. The two forms of shares outstanding—basic and diluted—are used to calculate market capitalization and earnings per share (EPS). This article will unpack these terms, illustrating their impact on financial health and corporate decision-making.

Do Split Stocks Count Against Authorized Shares?

These figures are generally packaged within the investor relations sections of their websites, or on local stock exchange websites. The common stock outstanding of a company is simply all of the shares that investors and company insiders own. This figure is important because it translates a company’s overall performance into per-share metrics, making an analysis much easier regarding a stock’s market price at a given time. If there are 100 shares outstanding and you buy one, you own 1% of the company’s equity. Outstanding shares impact a company’s market capitalization, which is calculated by multiplying the stock price by the number of outstanding shares.

As an example, let’s say that a fictional business, the Helpful Fool Company, has authorized 5,000 shares. The company can increase or decrease the number of shares outstanding by issuing new shares or via share repurchases (buybacks). Another metric calculated using shares outstanding is the price-to-book (P/B) ratio. However, due to the fluctuations in share counts between reporting periods, the figure is typically expressed as a weighted average. The number of shares outstanding of a company can be found in its quarterly or annual filings (10-Qs or 10-Ks). The float, also called the free float or the public float, represents the income summary subset of shares outstanding that are actually available to trade.

Finding Basic Shares Outstanding in Financial Statements

The number of shares outstanding consists of shares held by institutions, restricted shares held by company insiders, and shares available for investors to buy and sell on the open market. A company may announce a stock split to increase the affordability of its shares and grow the number of investors. For instance, a 2-for-1 stock split reduces the price of the stock by 50%, but also increases the number of shares outstanding by 2x.

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It is a key data-point that is widely used when making investment decisions. Overall, the number of shares outstanding, the metrics you can calculate from it, and related metrics — like the float — provide key insights to investors. Moreover, the number of shares outstanding is extremely useful when monitoring how a company conducts its business, as things like stock splits also affect share numbers. Here, the balance sheet reports 8,019 million shares where to find number of shares outstanding in financial statements issued and 3,901 million treasury shares, as of September 30, 2022. Knowing a company’s number of shares outstanding is key when calculating critical financial metrics and determining share value as a portion of ownership. The number of shares outstanding can also be found in a company’s balance sheet in the liabilities and shareholder’s equity section.

• You can do that by navigating to the company’s investor-relations webpage, finding its financial reporting, and opening up its most recent 10-Q or 10-K filing.
• The intrinsic value of the company doesn’t change, but the split can affect some of the stock’s metrics, including its share price.
• So far, we’ve focused on shares outstanding, whether basic or diluted, at a fixed point in time.
• Generally, both of these figures can be found on a company’s balance sheet.
• The number of shares outstanding for a publicly-traded company is reported in its periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), particularly in the annual report known as Form 10-K.
• Stock buybacks, for instance, reduce the number of outstanding shares, potentially boosting the company’s earnings per share (EPS) and making each share more valuable.
• P/B is often used to value companies in the financial sector (i.e. banks) and is calculated by taking a company’s share price and dividing it by the book value per share.

These shares are not considered outstanding because they are not held by public or institutional investors. Most notably, short interest usually is measured as a percentage of the float, rather than shares outstanding. This is because short sellers, when choosing to cover, can only buy the shares actually in the float.

How to Calculate the Implied Value Per Share of Common Equity

The calculation for common stock outstanding can seem a little daunting at first simply because so much accounting jargon is used to define and calculate it. Now that you’re equipped with this foundation of knowledge, all you need to do to figure it out is to go look it up on any company’s balance sheet in their 10-Q or 10-K filing. Explore how corporations authorize and calculate issued shares through market cap and balance sheet methods. When you buy stock in a company, you buy a percentage ownership of that business. How much of the business your one share buys depends on the total common stock outstanding, a figure you can easily determine using the company’s balance sheet. The formula for calculating the shares outstanding consists of subtracting the shares repurchased from the total shares issued to date.