How SCHD’s Three-for-One Split Worked
SCHD split its shares three-for-one in October 2024. Every shareholder ended up with three shares for each one they owned, and the share price fell to around a third of its previous level, so the total value of each holding stayed the same.
Schwab announced the split on 25 September 2024, as part of share splits across 20 of its ETFs. The record date was 9 October 2024, the split took effect after the market closed on 10 October, and SCHD began trading on a split-adjusted basis on 11 October 2024, according to Schwab and the Options Clearing Corporation.
FRC’s How to Invest in SCHD course is built from Schwab’s own SEC filings and distribution records, and explains how to read SCHD’s price and dividend history correctly on both sides of the split. The course page has a short video you can watch to decide whether the course is right for you.
This guide is part of FRC’s complete guide to SCHD, which starts with what SCHD is and how it works. It covers what the split was, what it changed and what it did not.
What a Stock Split Is
A stock split increases the number of shares in issue while reducing the price of each share by the same proportion. Nothing about the underlying investment changes: the fund holds the same companies, in the same amounts, and is worth the same in total.
A three-for-one split turns one share into three, which in practice means shareholders receive two additional shares for every share they already own. An investor who held 100 SCHD shares before the split held 300 afterwards, each worth around a third as much.
A simple comparison is changing a $20 note for two $10 notes. You have more notes, but no more money.
The Key Dates
Schwab announced the split on 25 September 2024. In the same announcement, it said SCHD’s net asset value was $85.02 a share as of 24 September 2024.
The record date was 9 October 2024. Shareholders on the fund’s records at the close of business that day received the additional shares.
The split took effect after the market closed on 10 October 2024, and SCHD shares began trading at the new, lower price on 11 October 2024. Schwab’s fund page still notes that “effective October 10, 2024, this ETF underwent a 3-for-1 share split”.
What Every SCHD Investor Needs to Know
The split changed nothing about SCHD’s value, but it changed every number investors see. Prices, dividends per share and historical charts all look different on either side of October 2024, and many investors misread them.
Anyone can tell you SCHD’s dividend yield, but do you understand how its index selects companies, why holdings are removed and what drives its dividend payments? How to Invest in SCHD is a 21-chapter course built from Schwab’s SEC filings, historical holdings data and S&P Dow Jones Indices’ published methodology, covering SCHD’s holdings history, every reconstitution, its performance and dividends and the mistakes investors make, with study guides, practice questions and an assessment in each chapter. FRC’s three progressive ETF programmes take your knowledge further, from ETF Investing for Beginners, through ETF Investing Strategies, to Advanced ETF Investing.
FRC’s programmes and memberships are open to everyone, whether you are investing $500 or $500,000, and you can get started for less than the cost of a few shares. The question isn’t whether financial education costs money. It’s what a lack of it could cost you.
What Happened to the Share Price
Before the split, SCHD’s shares were priced at around $85, based on the $85.02 net asset value Schwab gave on 24 September 2024. After the split, the same value was spread across three times as many shares, and SCHD traded at around $28.34 a share on 11 October 2024, its first day on the new basis, according to press reports.
The price has moved with the market since. SCHD ended 2024 at around $27.32 and 2025 at around $27.43, according to market data, and it closed at a record high of $36.21 on 4 November 2026.
On the old basis, that record high would be equivalent to around $108.63 a share. Comparing prices from before and after the split without adjusting them gives a completely misleading picture. FRC’s guide to SCHD’s price history shows the fund’s record on a consistent basis.
An Example With 100 Shares
Consider an investor who held 100 SCHD shares just before the split, at around $85 each. The holding was worth around $8,500.
After the split, the same investor held 300 shares at around $28.33 each. The holding was still worth around $8,500, and the investor owned exactly the same share of SCHD as before.
Nothing needed to be done. The extra shares were added to brokerage accounts automatically, and the investor did not need to buy, sell or sign anything.
What Happened to the Dividend
The dividend per share fell by the same proportion as the share price, but the total income an investor received did not change because of the split. SCHD’s last payment before the split, in September 2024, was $0.7545 a share, and its first payment after the split, in December 2024, was $0.2645 a share, according to Schwab’s distribution history.
For the investor in the example, the September 2024 payment on 100 shares came to around $75.45. The December 2024 payment on 300 shares came to around $79.35, higher because SCHD’s December dividend was larger, not because of the split.
On a like-for-like basis, the December 2024 payment of $0.2645 a share was equivalent to around $0.7935 on the old shares. FRC’s guide to SCHD’s dividend explains how much the fund pays and when.
How to Read Dividend History After the Split
The split is a common source of confusion in SCHD’s dividend history. Schwab’s own distribution table shows payments before October 2024 in their original pre-split amounts, so the figures appear to drop sharply in December 2024.
To compare them, divide any payment made before the split by three. On that basis, SCHD’s annual dividend rose from around $0.27 a share in 2012 to around $1.05 in 2025, and it rose in every calendar year in between.
Some websites adjust the older figures and some do not, which is why the same payment can appear as two different amounts. FRC’s guide to SCHD’s dividend growth uses split-adjusted figures throughout.
If you’re putting your hard-earned money into SCHD without understanding how it works, you’re taking unnecessary financial risks. How to Invest in SCHD takes you inside the fund, its holdings, dividend strategy, performance and risks.
What the Split Did Not Change
The split did not change SCHD’s holdings, its index, its expense ratio or its yield. The fund still tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index, still charges 0.06% a year and still holds the same companies in the same proportions.
It did not change SCHD’s total value either. Net assets were the same immediately before and after the split, and the fund’s later growth to around $119.9 billion by November 2026 came from rising share prices and new investment, not from the split.
The dividend yield was also unaffected. Because the dividend per share and the share price both fell to a third, the yield stayed the same.
Why Schwab Split SCHD
Schwab carried out the split as part of a wider move across its ETF range. On 25 September 2024, it announced splits for 20 ETFs: SCHD three-for-one, the Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF, SCHG, four-for-one, six other funds three-for-one and twelve two-for-one.
Splits are generally intended to make each share more affordable. Before the split, a single SCHD share cost around $85; afterwards, it cost around $28.
A lower share price can help investors who buy whole shares, reinvest small dividends or trade options, where each contract normally covers 100 shares. For investors who can buy fractional shares, the practical difference is small.
How the Split Fitted Around the Dividend Dates
The split was timed between two dividend payments. SCHD’s September 2024 dividend went ex-dividend on 25 September 2024, the same day Schwab announced the split, and was paid on 30 September on the old shares.
The next dividend went ex-dividend on 11 December 2024 and was paid on 16 December, the first payment on the new shares. No dividend fell in the middle of the split, so there was no payment that had to be divided between old and new shares.
Investors who want to be sure of receiving a dividend need to own shares before the ex-dividend date, whatever the share count. FRC’s guide to SCHD’s ex-dividend date explains how the timing works.
What the Split Means for Buying and Reinvesting
The lower price makes small purchases simpler. Before the split, $1,000 bought around 11 whole SCHD shares at around $85 each; afterwards, the same $1,000 bought around 35 shares at around $28.
That helps investors whose brokers do not offer fractional shares. It also helps those who reinvest dividends into whole shares, because a smaller quarterly payment is more likely to buy at least one new share.
For investors who can buy fractional shares or who reinvest automatically through a dividend reinvestment plan, the difference is mainly cosmetic. Their money buys the same amount of SCHD either way.
Did the Split Affect SCHD’s Performance?
No. A split has no effect on a fund’s returns, because the value of each holding is unchanged.
SCHD’s share price did move sharply in the months after the split, but for other reasons. From late November 2024 to April 2025, its price fell by around 18%, according to market data, during a broad market sell-off, before recovering by early 2026 and reaching new highs later that year.
Those movements would have happened in exactly the same proportions without the split. Only the dollar figures would have been around three times higher.
Taxes and Cost Basis
A stock split is not a taxable event in itself. Investors do not receive any cash, and they do not realise a gain or loss because of the split.
What changes is the cost basis per share. An investor who paid $9,000 for 100 shares had a cost basis of $90 a share before the split and $30 a share afterwards, across 300 shares, so the total cost basis stayed at $9,000.
The holding period also carries over, so shares held before the split keep their original purchase dates for capital gains purposes. Brokers normally adjust these records automatically, but investors should check their statements, and FRC’s guide to how SCHD dividends are taxed covers the wider tax picture.
What Happened to SCHD Options
Listed options on SCHD were adjusted for the split. The Options Clearing Corporation published an information memo on 27 September 2024 setting out how existing contracts would be treated.
Options traders are the group most affected in practice. After the split, a standard contract covering 100 shares represented a much smaller amount of money, which made SCHD options accessible to investors with smaller accounts.
Investors who do not trade options were not affected by these changes.
Quick Conversion Rules
Converting SCHD’s figures between the old and new basis takes only one rule: everything per share changes by a factor of three. To turn a pre-split share price, dividend per share or cost per share into today’s terms, divide it by three, and to turn a pre-split share count into today’s terms, multiply it by three.
Going the other way works in reverse. To express a post-split price, dividend or cost per share on the old basis, multiply it by three, and divide the share count by three.
Totals never change. The value of a holding, the total dividend received and the total cost basis are the same whichever basis is used.
Where to Check Split-Adjusted Figures
Schwab’s SCHD fund page is the best starting point. It notes the split and publishes the fund’s full distribution history, with payments before October 2024 shown in their original pre-split amounts.
Most brokers and charting websites adjust historical prices automatically, so a chart of SCHD’s price since 2011 normally shows the older prices divided by three. Dividend tables are less consistent, and some show the original amounts while others show adjusted ones.
When in doubt, check whether a figure from before 11 October 2024 is around three times larger than recent figures. If it is, it has not been adjusted for the split.
Common Mistakes About SCHD’s Split
Thinking the split made SCHD cheaper or a better buy. The split changed the price per share, not the value of what each investor owned.
Comparing prices from before and after October 2024 without adjusting them. A price of $85 before the split is the same as around $28 after it.
Thinking SCHD cut its dividend in December 2024. The dividend per share fell only because each share was worth a third as much; the payment was higher than a year earlier once adjusted for the split.
Mixing adjusted and unadjusted dividend figures. Some sources show SCHD’s older payments divided by three and others do not, so always check which basis a table uses.
Forgetting to check cost basis. Brokers normally adjust it automatically, but investors who track their own records need to divide their per-share cost by three.
Common Questions
When did SCHD split? The split took effect after the market closed on 10 October 2024, and SCHD began trading on a split-adjusted basis on 11 October 2024.
What was SCHD’s split ratio? Three-for-one. Each share became three shares, each worth around a third as much.
What was SCHD’s price before the split? Schwab gave SCHD’s net asset value as $85.02 a share on 24 September 2024, the day before it announced the split.
What was the record date for SCHD’s split? 9 October 2024.
Did SCHD’s dividend fall after the split? Only per share. The total paid on each holding was unaffected by the split, and SCHD’s December 2024 payment of $0.2645 a share was equivalent to around $0.7935 on the old shares.
Is a stock split taxable? No. A split does not create a gain or loss, but the cost basis per share is divided by the split ratio.
Did SCHD’s yield change after the split? No. The share price and the dividend per share both fell to a third, so the yield stayed the same.
Why did Schwab split SCHD? It was part of splits across 20 Schwab ETFs announced on 25 September 2024. Splits generally make each share more affordable.
Has SCHD split before? No. The October 2024 three-for-one split was the first share split since SCHD launched in October 2011.
Is a three-for-one stock split good for investors? It is neither good nor bad in itself. It changes the number of shares and the price of each, not the value of the investment or the fund’s returns.
How many SCHD shares would pay $100,000 a year? Based on the $1.0541 a share paid in the twelve months to September 2026, around 95,000 shares, worth roughly $3.3 million at the November 2026 price. FRC’s guide to how much SCHD you need to make $1,000 a month covers the calculation in full.
Will SCHD split again? Schwab has not announced another split. Any future split would be announced by Schwab in advance.
How many SCHD shares are there now? Schwab’s fund page showed 3,407,900,000 shares outstanding on 6 November 2026, up from around 2.2 billion shortly after the split, according to press reports, as new money flowed into the fund.
Did the split affect SCHD’s dividend dates? No. The September 2024 dividend was paid on the old shares and the December 2024 dividend on the new shares, with no payment falling during the split.
How do I compare SCHD’s old dividends with new ones? Divide any payment made before October 2024 by three to put it on the same basis as payments made since.
Your Portfolio Deserves an Educated Investor
SCHD’s three-for-one split in October 2024 tripled the number of shares and cut the price of each to a third, without changing the value of any holding, the fund’s companies or its yield. Its main lasting effect is on how SCHD’s price and dividend history must be read.
Before buying another few shares of SCHD, consider investing in understanding the fund itself. How to Invest in SCHD examines its selection methodology, historical performance, dividend taxation and investment strategies, while FRC’s three progressive ETF programmes take you from how ETFs work to managing risk across everything you own. FRC’s programmes and memberships are open to everyone, whether you are investing $500 or $500,000.
Don’t mistake watching investment videos for understanding an investment. Know how to read SCHD’s numbers correctly before you decide what it should do for you.
