Found old paper shares for company that has since merged

Question

My dad recently went through their safe deposit box and found a paper certificate for 4 shares in Northern States Power Company, issued in 1988. In 1998, NSP and New Century Energies of Denver merged to create Xcel Energy.

Before the merger, the company provided an annual dividend to shareholders. I don't know whether we ever received these, or if we were receiving them at one point and an address possibly never got updated when we moved.

This was purchased when I was a child, so the document lists my dad as the custodian for me, though I don't know whose SSN was used. Specifically, the name on the certificate is:

< Dad's name > CUST < My name >
UNIF GIFT MIN ACT WISC

I assume the second line refers to the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act, in Wisconsin.

I have a few questions:

• How do I go about determining the value of this stock?
• How do I go about either selling this stock or transferring it to my existing portfolio? Will I have to go through any extra steps since I was a minor at the time of purchase?
• Will I be due the missing dividends somehow, or is it likely a lost cause?

_{If you think it better to split some of these questions off into separate posts, please let me know and I will do so.}

Answer 1

I can help with the first part of your answer:

Since 1988 the following stock splits have occurred on XEL (formerly NSP): exdate 1998-06-02 2:1 stock split So this must be taken into account. You probably own 8 shares now.

Regarding dividends, XEL has been paying quarterly dividends since it listed. The value of those dividends per share from 19980602 until now $22.25 From 1988010 until 19980601 the total dividends per share is $25.605

If the dividends were never paid to you, you are therefore owed 8*$22.25 + 4*25.605 = $280.42

As at 20180104, XEL last traded at $47.12. If you own 8 shares this means the current market value is $376.96

More dividend data can be found here: http://investors.xcelenergy.com/Dividends

Given Xcel Energy this has been an S&P 500 company since the S&P 500 started, I'm sure they've encountered this situation before.

You should contact Xcel Energy's Investor Relations to determine what to do next: http://investors.xcelenergy.com/ (it appears that Xcel have outsourced their Invesotr Relations to Wells Fargo Shareowner Services ph 1-877-778-6786, so that might be your best bet).

Make sure you report back here and let us know the outcome.

Answer 2

According to the company's web site, Investor Relations, they use Wells Fargo Shareowner Services to handle their shareholder relations (most large companies out-source this). Try contacting Wells Fargo, with the share details, to see what they can do. They may even send you a back-payment of your dividends.

Answer 3

My thought was that given the small number of shares, the dividend would also have been a small amount and would have gotten lost/forgotten in a move.

Having the SSN on the account will help with Xcel Energy Investor Relations, share transfer, and dividend recovery.

To transfer the shares into your name, you'll need a Signature Guarantee which can be done at your local bank branch once you have the physical shares, and proof that you are over 18/21.

Unclaimed dividends would have been sent to the last registered state's unclaimed funds. So if your parents did update the custodial bank you'll have to look at that state and any other state as well. Fortunately most/all? states have a online unclaimed funds page for searching.

Since Wisconsin is on the title, you can try to see if your name or your father's name shows up here. Don't forget to try out variations on the full certificate title in the search fields.

https://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/UnclaimedProperty/Home.aspx

Good luck.