Apple To Join Dow Jones Industrial Average; AT&T Out

After the close of trading on March 18, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will replace AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, McGraw Hill Financial announced on Friday.

AT&T was down 1.4 percent on the news, while Apple was up about 1.1 percent.

McGraw Hill said that the move was prompted by Visa Inc's (NYSE: V) 4:1 stock split that will be finalized the same day. Adding Apple to the index will "partially offset" the reduction in weighting of the IT sector in the DJIA. The DJIA is price weighted, as opposed to weighted by market capitalization like the S&P 500 Index.

David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said, "The timing of Apple's addition to the DJIA hinged on two stock splits: Apple's 7:1 last June and Visa's 4:1 on March 19th this year. Apple's split brought the stock price down closer to the median price in the DJIA. The Visa split will reduce the technology weight in the DJIA and make room for Apple."

The change will not cause an immediate change in the level of the index.