Viveve Medical Inc. (VIVE)

[OldKnight]

DEFINITION of 'Floating Stock'

The number of shares available for trading of a particular stock. Floating stock is calculated by subtracting closely-held shares and restricted stock from a firm’s total outstanding shares. Closely-held shares are those owned by insiders, major shareholders and employees, while restricted stock refers to insider shares that cannot be traded because of a temporary restriction such as the lock-up period after an initial public offering. A stock with a small float will generally be more volatile than a stock with a large float, apart from having limited liquidity and wider bid-ask spread. Because of these issues, institutional investors seldom invest in low-float stocks. Also known as share float or simply “float”.


INVESTOPEDIA EXPLAINS 'Floating Stock'

A company may have a large number of shares outstanding, but a fairly limited float. For example, let’s say ABC Co. has 50 million shares outstanding, with major stakeholders as follows – Institutions 25 million, XYZ Company 10 million, Management and Insiders 5 million, Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) 2 million. Floating stock is therefore only 8 million shares (i.e. 50 million – 42 million), or 16% of outstanding shares.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/floating-stock.asp