Share can be defined as one of the equal units in to which a company’s total capital is divided while on the other hand stock is the aggregate consolidated holdings of share capital by a person.
Listed below are some of the differences between shares and stock :
1. A share may be either partly or fully paid, but a stock is always fully paid up or in other words only fully paid up shares can be converted into stock.
2. Shares can be issued directly to the public whereas stock cannot be directly issued to the public.
3. Shares are always registered and they are non transferable by delivery while stock may be registered or bearer (bearer refers to those stock which can be transferred merely by delivery of them).
4. A share cannot be transferred into fractions while stock can be transferred in different fractions.
5. All shares are of equal denomination and also they have nominal value whereas stock may be of unequal denominations and also they don’t have nominal value.
In today’s financial markets, the distinction between stocks and shares has been somewhat faint and both words are usually used interchangeably, but from the above one can see there are differences between the two and hence one should keep above points in mind.