Visa has announced a four-for-one stock split, to take effect on March 19. That's going to have a significant effect on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is a price-weighted index. That means a stock like Visa, which currently is trading at close to $250 per share and has the highest share price in the Dow, is going to have an outsize effect on its movement.
Visa had the biggest IPO in American history seven years ago, and it stock price has increased steadily pretty much ever since. Because its share price is so high, any of the stock's sizable percentage moves had a noticeable effect on the Dow. In the future, the financial sector in general (and of course, Visa in particular) will be less important to the Dow.
So if Visa's shares will be worth a quarter what they are now, who will become the biggest hitters on the Dow? The highest share prices other than Visa currently belong to Goldman Sachs at $176 and 3M at $166.
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