Why are wrong values downloaded for some split stocks

Question

I have several stocks where there are wrong price values on several random days.  It appears this might be the presplit value but uncertain.  This causes large spikes in the stock history graph.  I have performed the update stock values, but no change.  The only solution I see is to hand edit the stock history on these days.  What is going on???

Jim_Harman · Answer

Is the issue always with stocks that have split (not mutual funds), and are the incorrect values always off by the factor of the split, and no problems prior to the split?

If you provide an example of a problem security, we may be able to help further.

Bob 4585 · Answer

I would agree this is true if it was a cluster of consecutive prices around one date.  However, there are occurrences of  many interspersed wrong data points over weeks or months.  Looks like more of a data integrity issue by whomever provides the source.   The most annoying aspect on some stocks is the useful information is greatly compressed the  due to auto scaling.

Thanks for the comment

Jim_Harman · Answer

The problem as you have observed is that sometimes the date the split is recorded in Quicken does not line up with the date the split takes effect and thus affects the stock's price.

As you note, the easiest way to correct this is to edit the stock price history.