Resources

Historic Stock Prices

Suppose you inherited stock years ago and now you're going to sell it. To figure your gain or loss, you need to know the value of the stock on the date grandma died in 1983. Your stack of unread Wall Street Journals doesn't go back quite that far. Can you get historic stock prices online? You bet. The best place I've found for this is in the Yahoo! finance area � although they certainly don't make it easy to find this feature.

Getting Historic Prices on Yahoo!

First surf over to the Yahoo! finance area. (Tip: If you want to go there while keeping this page open, use the right button of your mouse to click on the link, then select "Open in new window.") Front and center you'll see an input box to get quotes. If you don't have the symbol for the stock you're interested in, use the link for "symbol lookup" first.
    Then enter the symbol in the appropriate box. But don't press the "Get Quotes" button yet. First, use the pull-down list on the right to select "Chart." Now press "Get Quotes."
    For most stocks you'll get detailed current information (subject to the usual delay if the market is open), together with a chart for the preceding year's activity. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer. Look at the bottom of the chart. You'll see a number of links for different types of charts � and for tables. If you need the price of the stock on a particular day, choose the daily table.
    When it comes up, you should be looking at a chart that tells you the open, high, low, close and volume for the stock on each day for the most recent three-month period. There's also a column for the adjusted close. This is very helpful: it lets you know how the price on that day compares to the current price after adjusting for splits. For example, the December 5, 1996 close for Microsoft (MSFT) was $153, but to compare with the current price (around $93 as I write this) you need to adjust that to $19.125 because there have been three splits since then.
    If your date is more than three months in the past, you need to take one more step. At the top of the chart you can change the beginning and ending dates of your chart. Enter the dates for a reasonably short period that includes the date you're looking for. With any luck, you'll come up with the information you need.

Other Sources

The Bigcharts.com site has a feature that provides historical quotes (along with charts, naturally). It doesn't seem to go as far back in time as the Yahoo data, but provides some helpful features. If you know of other sources that may be better, please post that information on our message board.
    If you don't find what you need using these sites, you may have to fall back on old-fashioned methods. If you have a brokerage account, your broker may be willing to look up a historic price quote for you. Some library have old newspapers on microfiche, and with a little effort you may be able to come up with historic stock quotes that way. Bear in mind, though, these methods won't necessarily alert you to stock splits that occurred during the relevant period.
    If you need stock split information, the best resource I'm aware of is CCH Capital Changes Reporter. If your library doesn't have this volume, try calling a broker or a large bank, or a law firm or accounting firm. Be sure to check for stock dividends as well as stock splits.

by Kaye Thomas    
December 15, 1999