stockholders
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Stockholder
The person or company that owns a share in a publicly-traded company or a mutual fund. The share represents a certain (usually very small) percentage of ownership in the company or the securities underlying the fund. Thus, a stockholder has the right to receive a portion of the company's profits in the form of dividends, and, depending on the type of share, may have a right to vote on matters pertaining to corporate governance. A person or company becomes a stockholder on the record date, that is, on the date that the share was bought. A stockholder is also known as a shareholder.
stockholders
Persons who own shares of a corporation. As a matter of convention, persons who own shares in large, publicly traded corporations are called stockholders and persons who own shares of small, subchapter S-corporations are called shareholders. Technically, though, the two names are interchangeable.