Stock Dividend vs Stock Split Top 6 Best Differences with Infographics

As a result, splits give each shareholder more shares, but they also proportionally lower the value of each share. Corporations usually account for stock dividends by transferring a sum from retained earnings to permanent paid-in capital. The amount transferred for stock dividends depends on the size of the stock dividend. For stock dividends, most states permit corporations to debit Retained Earnings or any paid-in capital accounts other than those representing legal capital. In most circumstances, however, they debit Retained Earnings when a stock dividend is declared. After a 2-for-1 stock split, an individual investor who had owned 1,000 shares might be elated at the prospect of suddenly being the owner of 2,000 shares.

• This is an allocation of an additional number of shares based on the existing percentage of share ownership.
• Stock Split is a method where the company divides the existing shares into multiple units.
• In contrast to cash dividends discussed earlier in this chapter, stock dividends involve the issuance of additional shares of stock to existing shareholders on a proportional basis.
• When declaring stock dividends, companies issue additional shares of the same class of stock as that held by the stockholders.

Taking the same example as above, a company with 100 shares of stock priced at $50 per share. There are now 200 shares of stock and each shareholder holds twice as many shares. Normally, companies split stocks when the share price is on the rise. However, an overly confident split may lead to risks if the share price falls below a certain level in the future.

What is Stock Split?

For example, say a firm has a market cap of $750 million, and there are 200 million shares outstanding at the stock price of $3.75 ($750/200). If there is a stock dividend declared of 0.2, the number of shares outstanding will increase by 20% to 240 million. The good news is that, by undergoing a stock split, a company greatly reduces the per-share price of its stock. Consequently, the stock becomes much more attractive to retail investors who view it as more affordable because of its lower price. Increased buying of the shares by these retail investors tends to raise the stock price. Stock splits occur when companies increase their total number of shares outstanding, but the overall value of all their shares remains identical.

• So, the difference between stock dividend and stock split is that a stock dividend is distributed among the shareholders as equity stocks whereas stock split is nothing but the division of equity stocks.
• The accounting for a stock dividend is based on the form of the transaction rather than its substance.
• Stock splits are events that increase the number of shares outstanding and reduce the par or stated value per share.
• When state law requires a transfer, under the circumstances of a split effected as a dividend there is no need to capitalize retained earnings, other than to the extent occasioned by legal requirements.
• A stock dividend is a distribution of additional shares of a company’s stock to existing shareholders.

The effect of this stock dividend on the stock price, however, is not as positive, at least immediately. Note that this policy may change as the SEC manages SEC.gov to ensure that the website performs efficiently and remains available to all users. If a user or application submits more than 10 requests per second, further requests from the IP address(es) may be limited for a brief period. Once the rate of requests has dropped below the threshold Running Law Firm Bookkeeping: Consider the Industry Specifics in the Detailed Guide for 10 minutes, the user may resume accessing content on SEC.gov. This SEC practice is designed to limit excessive automated searches on SEC.gov and is not intended or expected to impact individuals browsing the SEC.gov website. To ensure our website performs well for all users, the SEC monitors the frequency of requests for SEC.gov content to ensure automated searches do not impact the ability of others to access SEC.gov content.

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Generally, a company gives two kinds of dividends to its shareholders – cash dividends and stock dividends. A cash dividend is one in which the company distributes a definite amount of money to each shareholder for each share owned. On the other hand, a stock dividend is obtained from distributable equity in the form of stock. Recording small stock dividends A stock dividend of less than 20 to 25% of the outstanding shares is a small stock dividend and has little effect on the market value (quoted market price) of the shares. Thus, the firm accounts for the dividend at the current market value of the outstanding shares. Stock dividends do not affect the individual stockholder’s percentage of ownership in the corporation.

If the event is a stock split, there is no change in either Retained Earnings or Common Stock, only a decrease in par value and an increase in the number of issued and outstanding shares. The end result is a doubling, tripling, or quadrupling of the number of outstanding shares and a corresponding decrease in the market price per share of the stock. This price decrease is the main reason that a corporation decides to split its stock.

Cash Dividend Vs. Stock Dividend

Here is how to determine your basis and holding period for stock received in stock dividends and splits. With its stock split, GameStop intends to raise its total number of shares to 1 billion from 300 million. We don’t yet know at what ratio it intends to split its stock, but each shareholder will end up left with more shares. Importantly, the total value of each stockholder’s shares will not directly increase due to the split.

In February 2018, the Board of Directors approved a 2-for-1 split of the company’s common stock in the form of a 100% stock dividend. Depending on the circumstances, the board of directors of a corporation may wish to take steps that will change the number of outstanding shares of stock without affecting the firm’s assets or liabilities. One positive characteristic of the stock dividend and stock split is that ownership is not further diluted. That is to say, all shareholders will own the same proportionate amount of the company after the dividend or the split as they did before.

The Valuation Effects of Stock Splits and Stock Dividends

Instead of going through the legal steps required for a split, the board of directors can simply declare a large stock dividend and distribute the shares to the stockholders. In other words, if there is a 6-for-1 split, investors will get a stock dividend of five shares for every one share of Tesla they own. The opposite of stock split is referred to as a ‘Reverse Stock Split’ where the existing number of shares are been merged to reduce the number of outstanding shares. Because there is no change in either the total stockholders’ equity or any of the individual components, it is not appropriate for a journal entry to be recorded at the time that a formal split is made.