Par Value of Share How to Determine the Par Value of Share?

Unlike common stock, preferred shareholders don’t usually have voting rights. At the turn of the 20th Century, nearly all capital stock was issued with a par value of $100. In today’s marketplace, common stock with a par value above $1.00 would be rare, and most companies issue these securities with no par value. Companies moved away from issuing common stock with high par values to avoid the need to account for a contingent liability if the market’s perceived value of the stock were to fall below its par value.

When a company initially offers its stock publicly, they cannot sell shares under their par value, ensuring that no one investor gets more favorable treatment than other investors in terms of share prices. In states where stocks do not have to have a par value, companies can sell their stocks at any price. Stock certificates will indicate whether a stock does or does not have a par value.

Bonds

The par value for a bond is often $1,000 or $100, the usual denominations in which they are issued. This is because a company limited by shares has separate legal personality from that of its owners (shareholders). The liability of a shareholder for the company’s debts is generally only limited to the amount, if any, that remains unpaid on that shareholder’s shares. It’s helpful to think of preferred stock as a hybrid of bonds and common stock. Preferred stock represents equity in a company—a portion of ownership, like common stock. In addition, though, you are entitled to fixed dividend payments, like a bond’s fixed interest payments.

A bond with a par value of $1,000 really can be redeemed for $1,000 at maturity. When you buy bonds, you’re lending money for a set amount of time to an issuer, like a government, municipality or corporation. The issuer promises to repay your initial investment—known as the principal—once the term is over, as well as pay you a set rate of interest over the life of the bond.

How Is the Value of Capital Stock Reported on a Balance Sheet?

The par value, however, is commonly unrelated to a stock’s market price. This “no-par” status means that the company has not assigned a minimum value to its stock. No-par value stocks do not carry the theoretical liabilities of par value issues since there is no baseline value per share. However, since companies assign minimal par values if they must, there’s little effective difference between a par stock and a no-par stock. To find the par value of a common stock, look at the shareholder’s equity section on the company’s balance sheet, which can be found in the quarterly or annual reports of publicly traded companies. If this stock was not selling on a stock exchange, fair value might not be apparent.

The Par Value is the face value (FV) on the issuance of securities like bonds or stocks, as established on the issuer’s security certificate. Assume that Clinton Company issues a bond to the public worth $10M. When each bond matures at a specified date, the company will pay back the value of $1,000 per bond to the lender.

What Is the Relationship Between Coupon Rate and Par Value?

While the par value of a corporate bond is usually stated as either $100 or $1,000, municipal bonds typically have par values of $5,000. If a 4% coupon bond is issued when market interest rates are 4%, the bond is considered trading at par value since both market interest and coupon rates are equal. A company may issue no-par stock to avoid the circumstance that its share price drops below par value and it is owed a liability to shareholders. Imagine a situation where a stock has a par value of $1 and a market value of $0.75. Because the market value is trading below par value, the company has a liability owed to shareholders of $0.25.

Par value sets only your bottom limit, but the board of directors may set the price of stock at any amount above par. Let’s say your par value is $.01 but the board of directors sells stock to an investor for $5.00 per share. It’s important to remember that the total par value remains unchanged after a stock split. So, if the total par excel cash book value pre-split was $10,000 (1,000 shares and a par value of $10 per share), the total par value would still be $10,000 after the split (2,000 shares and a par value of $5 per share). Otherwise known as the stated value per share, the par value of a share is the minimum share value at which a company can issue shares to the public.