Leaving: Stock
From HPAlumnipedia
...Options and Ownership Plans
From the HPAlumnipedia (www.hpalumnipedia.com) on Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 07:28 • Page last modified: 12/18/2007
HPAlumnipedia > Leaving HP > Leaving: Stock
Stock Options
If you still have site and Portal access (that is, you're not past your Release Date), look up and print your stock option status on the Portal as HP recommends.
Alan Silverstein, Fall 2002:
I put this off because I had other things to do, and believed I already had matters well in hand. I nearly didn't find time, and the Portal was down several times when I tried... But upon looking, I discovered I'd been awarded a stock option one week after September 11, 2001, about which I had never been notified! It turned out to be worth something and I exercised it the following June.
Curt Gowan, rev Dec 2007:
No matter how you left HP – and no matter what you read or were
told...
You must get two options reports: before you leave and after you leave
There are many different stock option situations, depending on:
- When and how you joined HP, such as via merger or acquisition. (For example, options originally granted by Compaq have different terms than those originally granted by HP.)
- Where you worked in HP. (For example, in the field or on an overseas assignment.)
- Your job level.
- If you got some kind of special deal at some point in your career.
- If your HP service was interrupted.
- When you left.
- How you left. (WFR, EER, WFR->EER, VSI, resignation, spinoff, disability...)
Current information on stock and options for people leaving HP is located here: Stock and Options
Marl Godfrey, May 2003:
Be aware that once you are on Unemployment, if you exercise a cashless stock option, you will lose benefits for the week of the exercise. HP will report the exercise as income to the IRS and the Colorado Department of Employment will be informed of this "income". They may even question you as to why HP is reporting income to the IRS and demand an explanation of why you are still employed by HP. If you are from Agilent the same will probably be true. Plan any cashless stock option exercises accordingly.
Alan Silverstein, June 2003:
I happened to do exactly this in June 2003, but I had no consequences... Possibly because I reported "unavailable" for that week and the next due to a marriage and honeymoon! (grin)
Note, income tax is withheld from stock option exercises, and the rate might surprise you, so plan accordingly.
Stock Plans
By now if you had stock in the old ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Program, I think), you know it's been converted to DRS (Direct Registration Service) and you can move it any time, at no cost, to a broker. It's a simple, one-page form, though you need the broker's four-digit DRS number to do it, and a Medallion signature from someone like Addison Avenue Financial Partners agents.
If you are in the new SOP (Share Ownership Plan), at Mellon, consider whether to close it out (set your participation to 0%) as soon as you can. (After you lose HP Portal access, there is probably still a way to do this by mailing in a form.)
Alan Silverstein, Fall 2002:
Since my termination date was Oct 11, 2002, and the next six-month period ended Oct 31, 2002, I knew I would not buy any more shares, so I cancelled participation simply to get my withholdings since May 1, 2002 returned sooner. The balance showed up soon after in one of my earnings statements during the nine-week search period.
Stock in the new plan, at Mellon, converts to DRS at Computershare automatically after your termination date. I received paper mail about this including the transfer form needed to move it out.
Note that the new stock plan automatically DRIPs (Dividend ReInvestment Program) your shares' dividends into new fractional shares, an annoyance for bookkeeping. I received a separate statement from the program indicating that, as I had been informed by the FAQs, my fractional share had been sold. Beware that you do correct capital gain accounting for this transaction.
Alan Silverstein, Dec 2002:
I never received a check or direct deposit for my fractional share sale. What I discovered with some difficulty was that there is an approximately $10 fee for doing the sale! Given the recent stock price, most of us will never receive any money; and, apparently thanks to Mellon, no explanation either.
A bit later I received a new statement from Mellon that does show a fee equal to my proceeds ($6.21) for the sale of that fractional share. It is debatable how fair this is, since this was an involuntary sale and not one requested by the ex-employees. (shrug)
Alan Silverstein, Jan 2003:
Tax treatment upon sale of the new ESPP shares is tricky. I have some saved text on the subject that might interest you. However, these rules should not apply to this forced sale because the fractional share sold upon termination (regardless of Mellon keeping up to the first $10 as a fee) must necessarily come from one or more DRIP purchases; normal SOP purchases were whole-shares only.
Curt Gowan, Feb 2004, rev Dec 2007:
At Yahoo Finance, you get the historical prices in a downloadable table for any date range. Use the data in the "Close" column -- the "Adj Close" numbers ("adjusted for dividends and splits") do not match HP's. (smile)
Stock split history is here. Agilent spin-off cost basis is here.
For more advice from HPAA members on stock, how to get your options report, how to get your stock purchase plan history, etc. Stock and Options
Alan Silverstein, Jul 2006:
The initial entry date for the SOP program apparently was 11/01/00. When the stock dropped, HP installed an auto-reset feature on entry dates which extends your two-year clock but potentially gets you a better share price six months later on the next purchase if the stock price rises in the meantime. The auto-reset happened four times in succession, after which the price rose and the 11/01/02 entry date remained in effect. You can also look up this information under this website via "stock quote", which leads to here, from where you can go via "price lookup" to this page.
