I need to find historical stock prices, from WAY back. I can find back to 1986 on Google and Yahoo. I need 1945 prices for AT&T. Anyone know a website for that info?
Thanks in advance.
Newspapers from the day will be a good place to start.
Old prices won’t usually tell you much though for comparison purposes. You also need to know about stock splits and reverse splits since the original date as well.
For AT & T specifically their website has historic prices. It is complicated to know what the price means since I did not seen any mention of splits etc. Also AT&T got split into a bunch of companies in the 80s.
http://att.centralcast.net/historic_att_stock/Default.aspx?companyID=2
OP does not say they need to compare prices of AT&T’s stock. OP says they need to know the 1945 prices for AT&T’s stock. A newspaper from 1945 will give OP the 1945 prices for AT&T’s stock.
This is what he said, but if he wants to do something with the price like figure a capital gain, he’ll need more. If just knowing the closing price for some month in 1945 is sufficient, I can find it out through the CRSP (Center for Research in Security Prices) data which I have access to, but that far back it only has closing prices for the last trading day of each month.
Maybe he’s going back in time and needs to know how much old money to bring?
Can I come?
Yes, I am trying to figure the capital gains. I actually have the splits, well I think I do. It split it '87, '93, and '98. gazpacho really helped with his link, I didn’t really think that AT&T would have all that data on their website. I’d still love to find a website with this data for more stocks, as I’ll have to do this again for stocks other than AT&T.
Thanks to everyone who responded.
There is a split tab on that page which list the stock splits for various bell related companies. Capitol gains fro AT&T held since 1945 is tricky due to the break of of the bell system inthe 80s.
For stock splits, etc., the standard reference is CCH’s Capital Changes Reporter, which should be available at a good library. It’s online, too, but not for free. If you just have the 1945 stock prices without that information, it’s meaningless.
Did you buy the stock yourself in 1945? I ask because if you’re in the U.S. and if you received it as an inheritance from someone who died in 2009 or earlier, your basis for federal tax purposes is the value on the date the decedent died (“stepped-up basis”). If it’s an inheritance from someone who died this year, I believe the basis is whatever the decedent paid for it (“carryover basis”). They changed the rule because this year for the first time since 1916 there is no federal estate tax.
I’ve got access to (UK) newspaper archives going back to the 1700s. Let me know what stocks and dates you’re interested in and I might be able to help.
For what it’s worth, the price for “American Telephone” on Jan 2 1945 was given as “163½” which tallies with gazpacho’s link.
No, my great-grandfather gave it to my grandmother when she was in college. I think her basis is whatever he paid for it because of the gifting rules.
Colophon, thanks for the offer, AT&T is the only one I need right now. Thanks for the verification though, the price being that high did shock me a little when I first saw it. $160 a share was a lot of money in 1945!
Does she still have the stock for all the post 1984 companies that came out of the breakup?
She has the actual certificates in a safe deposit box. Is that your question? She also bought some additional stock later in life, which I think will be much easier to track because I think it was post 1986.
Thanks for all your help, by the way.
Wow.
If you click on the figure in this article you will see that it is complicated to know what those old shares mean. The ones from 86 are not a whole lot easier.
That figure is from 2006 I think there have been some mergers since then.
Wow, what a mess! Is all that necessary for a basis calculation, or can I just say, “She paid X amount in 1986 when she bought these, and X amount in 1992 when she bought these,” etc?
Thanks again,
Google and Yahoo in 1986 is easy: 0, because they didn’t exist 
For the cost basis sure. But for capitol gains you need to know what you have now. What you have now should be shares in a bunch of different companies. I really have no idea how you go about getting this done. I would call at&t investor relations to see if they know what to do with old shares.
Oh, we’ve already liquidated the account. We’re going to have a definite answer to what we have, 'cause we sold it! I’m just trying to come up with the basis so that we don’t have to assume that it’s ALL capital gains.