In July, Apple’s Board of Directors approved a 4-for-1 stock split “to make the stock more accessible to a broader base of investors.”
Each Apple shareholder of record at the close of business on August 24, 2020 will receive three additional shares for every share held on the record date, and trading will begin on a split-adjusted basis on August 31, 2020.
Buy what happens if you buy or sell Apple stock today, pre 4-for-1 split?
Dan Caplinger for The Motley Fool:
It’s easy to get confused about what happens if you buy or sell shares between the record date and the split date. Fortunately, understanding how it works is much simpler than understanding why it works that way.
Put simply, if you place a trade anytime between now and close of business on Friday, Aug. 28, then you’ll be trading the pre-split shares. If you buy the stock, you’ll be the one to receive the extra split shares in your account. If you sell the stock, you won’t receive the extra shares after the split. Whomever you sold those pre-split shares to will also get the additional shares.
If you want to trade post-split shares, you’ll have to wait until Aug. 31. After that, all trades will reflect the split.
MacDailyNews Take: After the Apple stock split, expect the dividend per share to simply be 1/4th of the current $0.82, or $0.205. Apple usually announces dividend changes in the spring.
Caplinger notes: “The official split date is on Friday, Aug. 28. After the close of business, shareholders will actually receive the extra shares in their brokerage accounts. For each Apple share you owned prior to the split, you’ll see a total of four shares after the stock split takes effect. However, you shouldn’t necessarily expect the new shares to show up at 4:01 p.m. EDT on Friday. Brokerage companies will handle processing according to their own procedures.”