1

Shareholders are entitled to receive a company's annual reports, sometimes through the mail. Suppose I own less than one share (a fractional share, say, 0.8 shares) of a company. Will I be entitled to receive the company's annual reports? Will I even be considered a shareholder?

Flux
  • 17,043
  • 8
  • 68
  • 124

1 Answers1

2

Paper copies of annual reports cost the company money to produce and mail out, and it is doubtful that they would mail a copy to everyone that owns less than one share. In fact, companies are no longer required to mail out paper annual reports to anyone.

However, generally all publicly-held companies post electronic copies of their annual report to their corporate website, on their investor relations page.

Yes, even if you own less than a full share, you are a shareholder, as you legally own a portion of the company, and your fractional share has value. However, you generally do not have any voting rights until you own at least one whole share.

Ben Miller
  • 115,533
  • 30
  • 329
  • 423
  • Am I even counted as a shareholder if I own less than one share? – Flux Apr 29 '20 at 12:22
  • @Flux Yes and no. Yes, you legally own part of the company and your fractional share has value. However, you do not have any voting rights until you own at least one whole share. – Ben Miller Apr 29 '20 at 12:26
  • My name won't appear in the company's share registry/stock transfer agent's records if I own less than one share? – Flux Apr 29 '20 at 12:41
  • 3
    @Flux If you are buying and holding through a brokerage, your name does not appear in company records even if you own whole shares, as the shares are in street name. – Ben Miller Apr 29 '20 at 12:43
  • What if I own less than one share and that situation was caused by a reverse stock split? – Flux May 28 '20 at 08:20
  • @Flux What about it? What specifically are you wondering about? – Ben Miller May 28 '20 at 10:44
  • Will I get an annual report if I previously had one share (but now have less than one share due to a reverse stock split)? – Flux May 28 '20 at 10:55
  • @Flux As I explained in the answer, I don’t know for sure. I’m guessing in that situation that if you were getting annual reports in the mail before the split, you’ll probably still get them after. However, it doesn’t matter, because you (and anyone) can download annual reports from the corporate website for free. – Ben Miller May 28 '20 at 10:58