If You Bought 1 Share of Eli Lilly in 1984, Here's How Many Shares You Would Own Now

The drugmaker Ely Lilly (NYSE: LLY) has had a very successful run over the long run. Shares currently trade around $818 and are up 20,030% over the past 40 years. The stock has also performed well this year, rising roughly 36% (as of Nov. 14), ahead of the broader market.

Given that Eli Lilly has been public for roughly seven decades, it's no surprise that it has conducted a few stock splits. When a company does a split, the amount of a shareholder's equity doesn't change but the number of shares does. Companies typically perform stock splits to make their shares more appealing to the general public.

If you bought one share of Eli Lilly 40 years ago in 1984, here's how many shares you would have today.

A long history

In the past 40 years, Eli Lilly has done four stock splits. The stock splits occurred on the following dates:

• Jan. 29, 1986 (2 for 1)
• April 28, 1989 (2 for 1)
• Dec. 20, 1995 (2 for 1)
• Oct. 15, 1997 (2 for 1)

In a two-for-one split, investors receive two shares for every one share they own. So, after the first stock split in 1986, any investors with one share would have two shares. Then they would have four shares after the second stock split, eight shares after the third, and 16 shares after the most recent split in 1997.

Lilly currently trades at over 61 times forward earnings, certainly not cheap but also not as high as the stock traded earlier this year. It is always going to be a crucial company for the U.S. economy and population, so long-term investors can continue to hold the stock. But like a lot of other stocks in today's highly valued market, it could be susceptible to pullbacks.

Should you invest $1,000 in Eli Lilly right now?

Before you buy stock in Eli Lilly, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Eli Lilly wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $870,068!*

Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of November 11, 2024

Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.