Skip to main content
N
NancyV227386
Contributor ⭐
August 18, 2023

Figuring Cost Basis for old stock

  • August 18, 2023
  • 5 replies
  • 2696 views

Hello,

I am wondering if anyone knows how to figure the historical price of a stock. I looked up one of my shares of stock on a historical price lookup tool online and the price did not match the amount that was listed on my receipt for when the original stock share was bought. I am thinking it has something to do with the Split Adjustment Factor column listed on the historical price table and that I have to do some figuring to get the true original price. Does anyone know about this? I have to look up prices for other shares for which I do not have receipts so want to get the cost basis correct.

thank you.

    5 replies

    nctarheel
    nctarheel
    Community Champion ⭐
    August 19, 2023
    @NancyV227386 wrote:

    Hello,

    I am wondering if anyone knows how to figure the historical price of a stock. I looked up one of my shares of stock on a historical price lookup tool online and the price did not match the amount that was listed on my receipt for when the original stock share was bought.

    Have you checked with your broker? Even brokers where you "self serve" as far as purchase and sale of stock keeps a record of your purchases. Brokers like Schwab use the FIFO method... first in, first out. When shares are sold, your oldest purchases of a company's stock are sold first. Call your broker regarding split adjustments, I believe they also can enlighten you there also.

      K
      kadelson1
      Contributor ⭐
      August 28, 2023

      I haven't done it in many years, but I was able to look up the details for each of my mom's stocks on the individual company websites. If in doubt about information wrt stock splits and similar, you can call investor relations for the company -- they are usually pretty informative and I'm thinking they may know better than whatever online tool you used. It's a bit trickier if the company has changed hands via mergers and acquisitions, but still doable. I didn't need to call investor relations for all of them, just a few with the most M&A activity. This assumes you've held the stock right along (my mom did), maybe added shares if purchased with dividends, etc. If you've sold shares or purchased more (not via dividends), brokerage who processed those sales should have that cost basis information as prior responder indicated.

      Hope this helped.

      (I was fortunate in being able to work with Date of Death valuations provided by a lawyer who handled my father's estate on behalf of my mom.)

      B
      BrianH123654
      Contributor ⭐
      September 6, 2023

      Compare the total Cost (shares x price). Receipt would show what you paid in total $’s. Divide total $’s by shares you show you own now. 

      a bit of a wrinkle if you’ve accumulated more shares via DRIP. 

      otherwise you can find historical share split info online 

      A
      AngleS694104
      Contributor ⭐⭐
      May 14, 2026

      Usually the historical charts are split-adjusted, so the price won’t match your old receipt exactly. I ran into this once and had to check the company’s split history first before the numbers made sense.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement