Question by : How to calculate the value of a stock purchased decades ago?
My grandfather has offered to gift me with a single share of stock in The Southern Company, which he purchased on my birthday, April 21, in 1954.
None of the online resources have data that goes back that far, and I wouldn’t really know how to calculate the value of the stock now if they did. For tax purposes, how would I determine the stock’s current value?
Best answer:
Answer by Rose
You would get the book value from the accounting in the company
What do you think? Answer below!
27 Jan
9:23 pm on January 27th, 2012
You may refer any of the financial magazine for the stock market rates. You may contact any one of the stock market dealers and they will help you.
10:05 pm on January 27th, 2012
Your local library can help you.
10:12 pm on January 27th, 2012
Value of the stock now is it’s current price. It closed Friday at $ 44.55
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SO&ql=0
Your value will depend on whether you own ONE share today or whether your grandfather is giving you a physical stock certificate he purchased in 1954, because the stock may have split in the intervening years. The oldest price I could find was for 12/31/81, $ 2.90 per share, accounting for stock splits. If you are looking for your basis in the stock, it’s most likely only pennies. If it was worth $ 2.90 in 1981 it was probably only “worth” pennies in 1954, not even accounting for additional stock splits – because 1) stocks were very cheap back then, and 2) inflation alone would generally dictate that the price would be significantly lower in ’54. A dollar in 1954 had the same buying power as $ 3.38 in 1981.
Nice Grandpa…