Chipotle Mexican Grill’s first-ever 50-to-1 stock split will be one of the largest in New York Stock Exchange history. The split will cut Chipotle’s share price to about $64 each from nearly $3,200 each now.
Splits don’t change the market value of a company, but the smaller share price may be more attractive to retail investors, making them popular vehicles for companies.
Chipotle shares are up nearly 40% this year. CFO Jack Hartung has said the move can help it reward employees.
Chipotle’s split comes after some other high profile ones this year, including Nvidia’s and Walmart’s. Chip maker Broadcom is set to split its stock in July.
Overall there are nine stock splits this year through July, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, up from two in the same time period last year.
History shows that companies tend to outperform after splitting their stock, even though nothing fundamentally changes about their business.
BofA Global Research found that average returns are about 25% during the 12 months after a split is announced, versus 12% gains for the S&P 500