See: New York Stock Exchange

Publicly Held
A company whose shares are publically available to the general public. A publicly held company is usually regulated by the SEC.

Public Offering
An offering of new securities to the investing public at a public offering price that has been agreed upon by the issuer and the investment bankers. This can only be done after the issue has been registered with the SEC. The term is also used when refering to a secondary distrution of securities previously issued.

See: Initial Public Offering; Investment Banker; New Issue; Secondary Distribution; Secondary Market; Underwrite

Public Offering Price (POP)
The price at which a new issue of securities is offered to the public by underwriters (open-end mutual funds are new issue securities). In the case of a load mutual fund, this price is the net asset value (NAV) plus the sales charge. In the case of a no-load fund, it is the NAV.

Put Bond
A bond, at the holder's option, that can be redeemed at face value on a specific date or dates. In return for this right, the holder recieves a lower yield than on a similar fixed-rate bond.

See: Face Value; Fixed Income Investment; Redemption; Yield

Put Option
A contract that gives the holder the right to sell a specified number of shares (usually 100) of a particular stock, stock index or dollar face value of bonds, at a predetermined price--called the "strike price"--on or before the option's expiration date. For this right, the holder (buyer) pays the writer (seller) a premium. The holder profits from the contract if the stock's price drops. If the holder decides to exercise the option (as opposed to selling it), the writer must buy the security. The writer profits when the underlying security's price remains the same, rises or drops by less than the premium received.

See: Covered Put Option; Expiration Date; Option Premium; Options; Option Writer; Strike Price; Uncovered Put Option

Put To The Seller
Term used when the holder of a long put option exercises the position. The put option writer (seller) is required to buy the underlying security at the strike price. For example, if an ABC July 50 put is "put to the seller", the writer has to buy 100 shares of ABC at $50 a share from the put holder. The actual current market price for ABC may be less than $50 a share.

See: Exercise; Long Position; Options; Option Writer; Put Option; Strike Price