Apple’s stock performed a highly-anticipated 7-for-1 split Monday morning, as 6 additional shares of stock per 1 share held by each shareholder of record at 5PM Pacific Time last Friday. The price of the stock was also divided by 7, and opened at $92 Monday morning at the start of trading, flowing a pre-split $645 close on Friday.
MacRumors notes that Apple’s all-time high stock price was hit in September of 2012, when it reached $705, or $100.72 post-split.
This is the fourth time Apple’s stock has split. It was split on a 2-for-1 basis in 1987, 2000, and 2005.
Apple says it wants to make its stock more accessible to smaller investors. However, the company could also be angling to be included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average index. As the Dow index is price-weighted, Apple’s previous price of over $600 would have resulted in a significant re-weighting of the index. The new price of around $92 would be less of an impact, making it a good candidate for inclusion.
Apple went public on December 12, 1980 for $22 per share.
