what is j 
the term j refers to a designation for nasdaq listed stocks that specifies that the stock has voting rights the designation appears as the fifth letter following a dot after a stock s four letter ticker symbol it is added to denote a shareholder vote situation the letter j is a temporary suffix that is removed once the shareholder vote situation is resolved other letter designations are used to describe share classes foreign issues preferred issues and a company s financial status understanding jsecurities that trade on stock exchanges are represented by a series of characters usually a set of letters this arrangement is referred to as a ticker symbol it allows individuals and companies to execute trades for these securities traders can recognize the stock exchange on which these companies trade based on the number of letters in the symbol for instance stocks that trade on the new york stock exchange nyse have three letters while those on the nasdaq have four publicly traded stocks also come with suffixes that alert shareholders to specific situations pertinent to the company these suffixes appear as a fifth letter identifier following a dot after a company s ticker symbol the letter j is one of those suffixes this designation identifies public security issues that have voting rights j also reveals that there is more than one issue of a company s common stock for example google offers two classes of stock to the public one is voting shares and the other is non voting the letter j is only added temporarily when there is a shareholder vote situation and is removed when the situation has been resolved common stock with voting rights is considered voting stock the majority of common stock has voting rights voting stock which carries voting rights allows a shareholder to vote during a shareholder vote situation the items that might require a shareholder vote include voting on board of director members or corporate transactions like mergers the exchange removes the designation once the shareholder vote situation is complete since its ticker symbols are comprised of three letters the nyse uses a fourth letter to identify unique instances where the issuance varies from normal conditions j vs other letter designationsthe nasdaq uses a variety of letters which are called fifth letter designations to distinguish stock issuances and the rights that come along with them j is just one of those designations as mentioned above j is a temporary addition to a stock s ticker symbol like j the letter d is also a temporary suffix d represents a new issue noting that it s a corporate reorganization if you see a ticker symbol that has the letter h after a dot it means that the issuance is the second preferred bond of the company the k at the end of a symbol means the stock is non voting the letter e means the company is delinquent with a securities and exchange commission sec filing while c means the company does not meet all requirements for listing on the nasdaq an a or b means it s the company s a or b shares respectively and most of the various other letters deal with being a preferred convertible or rights issuance 