Facebook Fails to Counter Decline in S&P 500 Stock Splits

While Facebook Inc. is effectively splitting its shares 3-for-1 through a new class of non-voting stock, more traditional splits have become less common. Just two companies in the S&P 500 Index have completed them this year: Willis Towers Watson Plc, which carried out a reverse split for a merger that formed the company in January, and Hormel Foods Corp., which did a 2-for-1 split in February. The data shown in the chart excludes Facebook-style splits at Under Armour Inc. this year and at Alphabet Inc. and Discovery Communications Inc. in 2014.