stock

A share of stock that represents ownership in the company that issues it. The price of the stock goes up and down, depending on how the company performs and how investors think the company will perform in the future.

Stock is an equity investment that represents part ownership in a corporation and entitles you to part of that corporation's earnings and assets.

Common stock gives shareholders voting rights but no guarantee of dividend payments. Preferred stock provides no voting rights but usually guarantees a dividend payment.

In the past, shareholders received a paper stock certificate - called a security - verifying the number of shares they owned. Today, share ownership is usually recorded electronically, and the shares are held in street name by your brokerage firm.

The lower portion of a graft. See: rootstock.