Shares Outstanding Formula in Excel

Are you looking to retrieve the total number of shares a company has issued and is held by all shareholders? The Shares Outstanding formula in Excel with MarketXLS allows you to quickly access this crucial metric. Knowing the number of shares outstanding helps you evaluate market valuation, plan your investment strategies, and perform more accurate fundamental analyses.

Understanding Shares Outstanding

• Purpose: The Shares_Outstanding function returns the total number of a company’s shares that are currently owned by all its shareholders.
• Key Benefits:
  • Speeds up fundamental research in Excel.
  • Enhances decision-making with immediate shares data.
  • Saves time by automating data retrieval from MarketXLS.
• When to Use: You should use Shares_Outstanding whenever you need to determine a company's market capitalization or analyze stock dilution risks.

Syntax and Parameters

=Shares_Outstanding(Symbol)

Return Value:
The function returns a numeric value representing the total number of outstanding shares. If the symbol is invalid or unavailable, Shares_Outstanding will return "NA".

?? Note: Make sure your MarketXLS license is valid. If your license is not active or if there is an issue fetching data, the function also returns "NA".

Examples and Usage

Below are some common ways to call the Shares_Outstanding function in Excel:

1. Regular Stock Symbol

   =Shares_Outstanding("MSFT")

   Retrieves outstanding shares for Microsoft.

2. Index Symbol

   =Shares_Outstanding("^SPX")

   Checks outstanding shares data for the S&P 500 Index (when available).

3. Options Symbol

   =Shares_Outstanding("@MSFT 110122C00020000")

   Retrieves outstanding shares for the specified Microsoft option symbol.

4. Crypto Symbol

   =Shares_Outstanding("BTCUSD:DEFAULT")

   Fetches outstanding shares data for Bitcoin (if data is provided).

? Pro Tip: Combine Shares_Outstanding with other MarketXLS functions like Market_Capitalization or Float_Shares to get a comprehensive view of a company's stock structure.

Common Questions

1. What happens if I enter an invalid symbol?

   • The function will return "NA". Always verify spelling or symbol formats.

2. Why is the function returning NA for a valid symbol?

   • Ensure your MarketXLS license is active, and check if data is temporarily unavailable.

3. Can I reference a cell for the symbol instead of typing it directly?

   • Yes. For example:

     =Shares_Outstanding(A1)

     where cell A1 contains the symbol (e.g., MSFT).

4. What other functions pair well with Shares Outstanding?

   • • Sector
     • Industry
     • Float_Shares
     • Market_Capitalization
     • Shares_Owned