Vanguard funds today announced that three of their Exchange Traded Funds split today on a 2 for 1 basis. The three funds: VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index), VWO (Vanguard Emerging Markets Index) and VXF (Vanguard Extended Market Index).
According to Vanguard:
The share split entitles each shareholder of record at the close of business on June 13, 2008 to receive one additional share for every share of the ETF held on that date. The additional shares are expected to be distributed to shareholders on June 17. The shares will trade at the new split-adjusted prices beginning June 18.
So if you own any of these popular ETFs, don’t freak out on June 18th thinking that the markets crashed overnight – you should notice that the prices will be half what they were, but you will have twice as many shares.
I might add, don’t panic especially if you notice the new price, but the number of shares in your account is still the same. Sometimes brokers don’t reflect the new share amount until the split settles and have deposited the shares in your account. Give it 2-3 days. This applies to any share that splits.
@Leslie – excellent info, thanks for that!
Why would they do that? Well i already know the answer it still makes less sense? Would i rather pay more to trade additional shares? Looks like the answer is yes. .. Since when does logic come into common sense investing? I suppose most can’t pony up $130,000 (Berkshire)so we don’t want to exclude ‘most’.