Issued Shares

Issued shares are the authorized shares sold to and held by the shareholders of a company, regardless of whether they are insiders, institutional investors or the general public, as shown in the company’s annual report. Issued shares include the stock a company sells publicly to generate capital and the stock given to insiders as part of their compensation packages. This is in contrast to the shares held as treasury stock and shares that have been retired, which are not included in this figure.