Plan Administrator for an employee stock plan. (-Update & renovation in progress Feb 24, 2025)

Part of our process to find stock and estimate cost basis. Start here: Stock Step-by-Step

Your HP, HPE, and spinoff stock is probably not all held in one place. For example, spinoff shares may not wind up in the same place as the parent shares. Records at plan administrators and stock brokerages often don't have the original acquisition date and correctly-calculated current cost basis for each lot of acquired shares -- a major impact on what they report to the IRS when the stock is sold. An "Unknown" basis defaults to $0.

Your employment-related stock may held in a stock plan managed by a Plan Administrator [you are here] hired by your employer, or held in your name by the company's Transfer Agent -- or your shares may be held in a personal Stock Brokerage account.

When you leave, your shares are automatically moved from an employer-paid account at a Plan Administrator [you are here] -- such as the NetBenefits division of Fidelity or the MyBenefits division of Merrill Lynch -- to a personal account at the Stock Brokerage subsidiary of the same financial conglomerate. (Merrill Lynch calls the two accounts "Employer Sponsored Plan" and "Individual Investor Account.") The new account will use a different website, login, and account number.

Since your employer is no longer paying for the account, you will probably be billed an annual fee (which may be higher than you might expect.) Lot-and-cost data for your lots should have been preserved if you move between the "benefits" and "retail" divisions of the same financial company.

However, if you move the shares to a different stock brokerage, the shares of each company will be moved in a single lot -- you will have to use your own records to enter date and purchase price for each lot into the second broker's system.

If there is a stock spinoff, the new stock will either be at the spun-off company's Transfer Agent or in your personal Stock Brokerage account -- depending on where the parent stock was located.

An employer generally hires different plan administrators for stock acquired in different ways, such as employee purchase, options or equity awards, or retirement plan.

- Your points of contact are the various plan administrators, not the company or the company's stock transfer agent. The company's transfer agent knows only the grand total holding by all clients of each plan administrator.

- Dividend payments and stockholder communications are sent to the address on file with each plan administrator. Even if still employed by the company, the company may not update those addresses for you.

- Plan administrators have lot-and-cost records -- however, members report that the data may be lost when the company changes plan administrators.

- After leaving, your shares are generally automatically moved from an employer-paid account -- such as the NetBenefits division of Fidelity or the MyBenefits division of Merrill Lynch -- to a personal account at a different division of the same financial conglomerate. See details below under "After leaving a company."

- Spinoff shares should show up in your account at each plan administrator.

- Stock options have an expiration date and a vesting schedule, as specified in the original Option Grant document. If not vested or not exercised by that date, stock options expire.  Investopedia article

Non-U.S. employees:

- Non-U.S. employees may have shares at Morgan Stanley's "StockPlan Connect." Statements for non-U.S. employee accounts are mailed from Columbus, Ohio. Login   FAQ  Non-U.S. plan participants may not have a Morgan Stanley "Global ID" number -- not the same as your Account Number:  Morgan Stanley issues reported by members 

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