Uncertificated Shares

Uncertificated Shares While the transfer agent has to keep track of everyone who owns stock in a company, he or she does not have to issue stock certificates to each of these people. When an agent decides to simply keep a record on his or her books of someone owning shares in a company, but does not issue a certificate to the individual, it is called an uncertificated share. This does not mean that the share is any less important, as the agent will still have a full record of the individual who purchased the shares, it just means that the investor will not have physical proof of this investment in the form of a certificate.