Facebook Finally Joins the Prized S&P 500 Index

Readers should be reminded here that there are multiple times more funds and benchmarks based against the S&P 500, and it is actually the biggest benchmark of most equity funds.

Teradyne will replace Scholastic Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHL) in the S&P MidCap 400, and Scholastic will replace Lincoln Education Services Corp. (NASDAQ: LINC) in the S&P SmallCap 600. Lincoln Education Services currently ranks 600th in the S&P SmallCap 600 and is no longer representative of the small cap market space.

Facebook shares closed down 1.7% at $49.38 on Wednesday and were seen up 3.6% at $51.15 or so in the after-hours reaction. Its 52-week range is $22.67 to $54.83 and the consensus analyst price target from Thomson Reuters is listed as $58.52 as of now.

With a $121 billion market cap, investors will have to consider the real free float here rather than the full market value. Several other index changes were made as well, but this is the big one.

Mark Zuckerberg just became 3% richer, and he didn’t even have to announce a product or make a presentation.