Should I sell my (handful of) Barclays shares?

Should I sell my (handful of) Barclays shares?

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Discussion

Chris71

Original Poster:

21,545 posts

248 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
I inherited a small number of shares in Barclays a while back. There are 125 'ordinary shares' which the dividend letter claims to be worth 25p each. I'm not financially minded (as you can probably tell), but I presume that just equates to 125 x 25p = roughly 30 quid?

Is it worth hanging on to them or should I just cash them in for the value of a few rounds?

5pen

1,942 posts

212 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Barclay's shares are trading at about 295p at the moment, so your holding is worth somewhere nearer £370. The 25p bit is the nominal value they were initially issued at I believe.

As to whether you hold onto them or not is up to you. Do you need the £300-odd quid? From memory Barclay's shares dipped as low as 50p during the banking crisis, but prior to that had been about trading fairly consistenly above £5 and been as high as £8. Where they go from here is beyond my crystal ball.

Chris71

Original Poster:

21,545 posts

248 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
woohoo

Thanks.

I actually Googled 'Barclays share value' and saw they were at 295, but it didn't say 295 what exactly. I naively assumed it was some sort of abstract banking unit rather than pence.

Hmm, like you say, it becomes a crystal ball matter. With the recession still far from over I'm guessing it could be a while until they're worth significantly more than the current £2.95/share, and given I'm having my own mini financial crisis £370 or so would be rather handy. On the other hand, double that in a year's time - for sake of argument - would be even nicer.

What's involved in selling them back if I do decide to do it?

Deva Link

26,934 posts

251 months

Monday 31st January 2011
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Chris71 said:
What's involved in selling them back if I do decide to do it?
You weren;t joking when you said you didn't know anything!

Have they actually been transferred into your name?

Lucas CAV

3,039 posts

225 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Deva Link said:
You weren;t joking when you said you didn't know anything!

Have they actually been transferred into your name?
why the surprise?
I wouldn't know where to start!


Chris71

Original Poster:

21,545 posts

248 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Deva Link said:
You weren;t joking when you said you didn't know anything!

Have they actually been transferred into your name?
I'm a journalist, not a stock broker... smile

Yes, they've been transferred into my name. I suppose it's a fair point that the person who knew enough to transfer them correctly into my name would be a good first point of call for this question.

fido

17,198 posts

261 months

Monday 31st January 2011
quotequote all
Chris71 said:
stock broker
they will sell the shares for you - but you will probably be charged more for handling paper certificates (£25 or thereabouts i think)

fid

2,431 posts

246 months

Wednesday 2nd February 2011
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Deva Link said:
Chris71 said:
What's involved in selling them back if I do decide to do it?
You weren;t joking when you said you didn't know anything!

Have they actually been transferred into your name?
Not a bad question. My bank, HSBC, allow you to transfer shares in for free...presumably paper certificates too. Once registered for the share dealing service you can hold the shares in the account and sell when you want to. Probably best to sell that many in one hit as commission is usually around £12.