I have a share of co-op stock that my now deceased grandfather gave me. He purchased it in 1971 and I am wondering what it could be worth today, or where should I go to find out? I don’t want to get ripped off so if there are any reputable investors out there, please give me some advice.
I might be ignorant, or I might just be confused. Could you explain what co-op stock is? Is it stock in a corporation, or stock in something else?
If your stock is in a corporation that is still liquid, you can check the price at http://finance.yahoo.com – they even have a nifty ticker symbol lookup utility. if the corporation has been acquired by another company, it will be harder to trace but it’s still feasible.
I hope this helps…
co-op is a general term in the midwest for basically a co operation of farmers. They are those huge buildings were they store grain, horse feed etc. Often times, they are the tallest(or only) building in the town. I just don’t know if I am sitting on a gold mine or my grandpa just had good intentions.
I think it would be essential to know the details of the stock before making any sort of judgement on what it could be worth. For starters, what’s the name of the co-op? Any idea of what market it was traded in?
You may find that co-op shares can only be held by members of the co-operation. They might also not be publically traded. It will depend on their Articles of Association. Your shares still may have significant value, but liquidity might be poor (i.e. finding a buyer may difficult).
My first call would be to the co-operative. Your situation would not be unusual.
why not just tell us what the stock is? Maybe we can find out for you cw. Frankly, the easiest way is just take it to a local stock house.
Wrong, handy. A stock brokerage can research and tell you the value of the stock of a corporation that is or was publicly held.
They have no basis to place a value on stock in a private corporation. Woolly was spot-on.
manhattan, very well, however, I’d be more than happy to call one of the local places & find out if what you said is true, once we learn what co-op it is 
Well, if it’s not Suiza Foods, chances are it’s not publically traded. As Manhattan correctly notes, a brokerage firm won’t be able to help you with a company that doesn’t have publically traded shares.
See if your certificate has a cusip number or a certificate number on it. Note these numbers and then call the co-op. Ask if they have somebody that handles investor relations, and you’ll most likely get all the help you need.
woolly gave the practical answer (call the coop–they’ll step you through the redemption process if the certificate is redeemable), but the esoteric siren song of coop paper calls–I’m compelled to tell you more than you want to know.
Interests in a coop are subject to obscure and alluring tax rules. A coop attempts to avoid double taxation like a partnership, but mostly does so through its own subsection of the tax code. Coop interests include your basic membership interest, your equity interests, your patronage certificates, your patronage notes and other various and sundry-named funding mechanisms. But is any of this stuff a security? This is a real, burning question for securities lawyers and the really big coops that issue paper (the grape, cranberry and catfish(!) coops are huge and have well-recognized household brands). There are several Supreme Court cases that attempt to define a “security.” One of the key elements turns out to be the expectation and ability to earn a return on funds put in “based on the efforts of others.” Farmers actively participating in a coop sell their crop to the coop and participate on a percentage basis in any group profits based on their share of the crop. This is a patronage return. Even if payment of patronage returns is made over time (the farmer gets paid over 10 years to give the coop the float or to allow the coop to hold the crop if crop prices aren’t so hot right away) and the farmer gets a certificate saying what is owed him, this is most likely not a security. On the other hand, if the coop wants to borrow money to build a new processing facility, and it knows several of its members are willing and able to lend funds, the notes it may issue to these lenders may well be securities (or not, it depends). Some states with big ag bases have exempted all coop paper from the securities laws; some have not. The result is you need a loverly mixture of legal analogy and analysis of a sort to soothe the hearts of tax and securities lawyers. ::sigh::
Anyway, basic membership certificates are usually not securities because they usually cannot increase in value. If cw’s certificate has a face value printed on it, that’s probably what it is and always will be worth. By calling the coop, cw will also find out whether his grandfather owns any other coop “paper,” not all of which is necessarily certificated.