Fractional Share

Fractional share

Stocks amounting to less than one full share, usually resulting from splits, acquisitions, exchanges, or dividend reinvestment programs.

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Fractional Share

Less than one share of a stock or a mutual fund. One almost always purchases fractional shares as part of a dividend reinvestment program. That is, when one automatically uses dividends to buy more shares, there may be extra cash left over but not enough to buy a full share. The company or fund sponsoring the dividend reinvestment program then allows the shareholder to buy a fractional share.

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fractional share

Less than one share of stock, that is, one-third or one-half a share. Fractional shares are generally created from dividend reinvestment plans or stock dividends. For example, if a firm's directors declare a 2% stock dividend, an owner of 70 shares would be entitled to 1.4 additional shares. Because corporations do not issue certificates including fractional shares, the stockholder would receive one share and the cash equivalent for the fractional share. Fractional shares are credited to dividend reinvestment plans.

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Fractional share. If you reinvest your dividends or invest a fixed dollar amount in a stock dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) or mutual fund, the amount may not be enough to buy a full share.

Alternately, there may be money left over after buying one or more full shares. The excess amount buys a fractional share, a unit that is less than one whole share.

In a DRIP, a fractional share gives you credit toward the purchase of a full share. With a mutual fund, in contrast, the fractional share is included in your account value.