Issued shares
Shares actually placed and taken up by holders; these are the ones carrying votes and the right to a distribution.
How to read the number
Every per-share figure — earnings, dividend, book value — rests on this count, not on the ceiling the articles permit.
When the metric lies
The count changes after every new issue and after cancellation of repurchased stock, so a per-share series across periods is not comparable until it is restated.
Also known as: issued shares