Cede and Company (also known as Cede and Co. or Cede & Co.) is a specialist United States financial institution that processes transfers of stock certificates on behalf of Depository Trust Company, the central securities depository used by the United States National Market System, which includes the New York Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq.
[4] Cede technically owns most of the publicly issued stock in the United States.
[6] Securities held at Depository Trust Company are registered in its nominee name, Cede & Co., and recorded on its books in the name of the brokerage firm through which they were purchased; on the brokerage firm's books they are assigned to the accounts of their beneficial owners.
[7] In the last official DTC report disclosing ownership percentages, Cede owned 83% of all issued stocks in the United States in 1998.
[needs update] Founded in 1973, Cede was formed for the purpose of efficiently processing transfers of stock certificates on behalf of the Depository Trust Company.