Google Finance Definitions

2008-12-18

Have you ever visited Google Finance and wondered what all of those abbreviated names at the top of it are? Well I am going to explain them to you.

The big unlabeled bold number is the current stock price in the currency it is traded in. If you look at something on the London Stock Exchange this number represents how much the stock is valued in Great Britain Pounds. The New York Stock Exchange is in Dollars.

The green or red plus/minus with a number and a percent in parenthesis right under the current stock price is the price move. If it is a positive number it is the difference between the day's low price and the current price. If it is a negative number it is the difference between the day's high price and the current price. Whether it is negative or positive is determined by the current price's relation to the opening price of the day.: Open
The price for one share as of the beginning of trading.: High
The highest traded price of the day.: Low
The lowest traded price of the day.: Vol
The number of shares that have changed hands today.: Mkt Cap
The 'market capitalization' is the product of the total shares outstanding and the current price. This is what the market thinks the company is worth.: 52Wk High
The highest price of the stock in the last 52 weeks.: 52Wk Low
The lowest price of the stock in the last 52 weeks.: Avg Vol
The average number of shares that change hand each day.: P/E
The price per earnings ratio. It is the number years before the earnings per share would pay back the purchase price.: F P/E
The P/E using the company's forecasted earnings for the next 12 months. Probably less reliable.: Beta
The coefficient of volatility of a stock. A beta of 1 means the stock is highly correlated with the general price of the market. A higher number means it is more volatile than the market, and a beta of less than 1 means it is less volatile than the market.: EPS
Earnings per share. It is the net income minus dividends divided by total number of shares.: Dividend
The number of cents the company will give you per share you own. Companies typically issue this number of cents to stock owners 4 times a year.: Yield
This is the annual rate of return you can expect to receive from the dividend issues if the company keeps issuing the dividend. Compare this to the yield on a savings account.: Shares
The total number of shares outstanding.: Inst. Own

The percentage of shares owned by mutual funds, pension funds, hedge funds, banks, and insurance companies.