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Finance Dictionary and Glossary of Investment Terms
Stock split
Definition 1.
Occurs when a firm issues new shares of stock and in turn lowers the current market price of its stock to a level that is proportionate to pre-split prices. For example, if IBM trades at $100 before a two-for-one split, after the split it will trade at $50, and holders of the stock will have twice as many shares as they had before the split. See: Split.
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Definition 2.
An increase in the number of outstanding shares of a company's stock, such that proportionate equity of each shareholder remains the same. This requires approval from the board of directors and shareholders. A corporation whose stock is performing well may choose to split its shares, distributing additional shares to existing shareholders. The most common stock split is two-for-one, in which each share becomes two shares. The price per share immediately adjusts to reflect the stock split, since buyers and sellers of the stock all know about the stock split (in this example, the share price would be cut in half). Some companies decide to split their stock if the price of the stock rises significantly and is perceived to be too expensive for small investors to afford. also called split.
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Definition 3.
The division of a company's existing stock into more shares. In a 2-for-1 split, each stockholder would receive an additional share for each share formerly held.
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