You’d be hard pressed to find a more iconic global entertainment brand than The Walt Disney Company, which has been a major cultural force for roughly a century. The company has been a mainstay on Wall Street, as well, issuing its first over-the-counter stock in 1940 and listing on the New York Stock Exchange 17 years later.
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Today, Disney is a massive conglomerate with more than $90 billion in annual revenue, a market cap approaching $200 billion and a brand lineup that includes Disney Studios, Pixar, Marvel Studios, ABC, ESPN, 20th Century Studios and Hulu, among others.
Investors who put $500 into Disney stock 30 years ago would have over $10,000 today, though it hasn’t always been a smooth ride.
Investing in Disney
For investors, Disney has been a mixed bag over the years — especially this decade. The company’s stock currently trades at around $109 a share, which is down 46% from the record high of $203 it hit in March of 2021. That lags well behind the performance of the overall stock market. Look no further than the S&P 500, which has risen more than 53% over the same time period — and includes Disney as one of its members.
Longer term, however, Disney’s stock has done much better. As recently as 30 years ago, you could buy a share of its stock for less than $18. If you had invested $500 in Disney back then, you’d have more than $10,000 today. Here’s a look at how the stock has performed over the past three decades:
- Price in February 1995: $17.55 per share
- Closing price on Feb. 11, 2025: $109.02 per share
A $500 investment back in February 1995 would have netted you 28.5 shares of Disney, based on the $17.55 price. At $109.02 per share today, that adds up to about $3,106. But that’s not the current value — or even close to it.
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Stock Splits
The reason has to do with stock splits. According to Investing.com, Disney has announced 14 stock splits since joining the NYSE in 1957. The first was in 1968, and the most recent was in July 1998, when Disney announced a 3-for-1 stock split. That was the only split announced in the last 30 years.
Because you bought 28.5 shares in 1995, the 3-for-1 stock split in 1998 increased your share count to 85.5 shares (28.5 x 3). Today, you still own those 85.5 shares. This means your Disney stock is now worth $9,321.21 — or 85.5 x $109.02.
Dividends
So why is your investment actually worth more than $10,000? Because Disney also pays a dividend to its shareholders — and that dividend pushes your balance even higher.
The Nasdaq website reports that Disney has paid some form of dividend nearly every year since 1995 — either quarterly, annually or semi-annually. The only exceptions were 2020-2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when no dividends were paid.
According to Nasdaq, Disney’s full-year dividends over the past three decades ranged from a low of 21 cents a share to a high of $1.76. Total dividends paid over 30 years equal about $17 a share. When you multiply that dividend by 85.5 shares, you should have earned around $1,450 in dividends.
Now the math looks like this:
- Stock value: $9,321
- Dividends: $1,450
- Total value: $10,771
In other words, your initial investment of $500 has now grown to $10,771 — a return of more than 20-fold over the years.
Editor’s note: Stock price data was sourced from Yahoo Finance and is accurate as of Feb. 11, 2025.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How $500 in Disney Stock 30 Years Ago Turned Into More Than $10,000
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
