Stock Split

A corporate action that increases the number of securities issued and outstanding, without the issuer receiving any consideration for the issue. Approval by security holders is required in many jurisdictions. Each security holder gets more securities, in direct proportion to the amount of securities they own on the record date; thus, their percentage ownership of the issuer does not change. For example, a two-for-one stock split involves the issuance of two new securities for every old security.

Stock Symbol

A one-character to three-character, alphabetic root symbol, which represents an issuer listed on Toronto Stock Exchange or TSX Venture Exchange.

Stock Symbol Extension

The character or characters that may follow the stock symbol to uniquely identify a listed security. It can be a single alphabetic character, two alphabetic characters, or a combination of two plus one characters with a maximum of eight characters for the stock symbol, extension and separator dots in between. For example, BMO.PR.U. Currently, they include: A-B – class of shares B – debentureE – equity dividendH – NEX marketIR – installment receiptsNO, NS, NT – notesP – Capital Pool CompanyPR – preferredR – subscription receiptsRT – rightsS – special U.S. termsU, V – U.S. fundsUN – units W – when issued WT – warrants

Stop Order

An order placed which is not at the current market price. It becomes a market order once the security touches the specified price. Buy stop orders are placed above the present market price. Sell stop orders are placed below the present market price (also known as a stop loss). If a stock gaps past the stop order, it becomes a market order and is filled at the next trading price.

Street Certificate

These are certificates registered in the name of a securities firm rather than the owner of the security. This makes the certificate easily transferable to a new owner.

Reverse Stock Split

This is where a company reduces the number of outstanding shares by decreasing the number of available shares and combining their value into the fewer shares. This has the effect of increasing the stock’s par value. This is often used by companies whose stock is about to be delisted from an exchange because of its low price.

Reverse Takeover (RTO)/Backdoor Listing

A transaction or series of transactions that includes a securities issuance made by a listed issuer to parties vending securities or other assets into the listed issuer (the new security’s holders), such that after completion of the transaction(s), the new security’s holders will own more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the listed issuer, with an accompanying change of control of the listed issuer. A reverse takeover (RTO)/backdoor listing can be completed through various transactions, including a business or asset acquisition, an amalgamation, a plan of arrangement, or other form of reorganization. The listing of securities of an issuer formed in accordance with an RTO/backdoor listing is treated as a new listing.

Rights

A temporary privilege that lets shareholders purchase additional shares directly from the issuer at a stated price. The price is usually less than the market price of the common shares on the day the rights are issued. The rights are only valid within a given time period.