Enter a share price and dividend to see the yield, your annual and monthly income, and your yield on cost. Free, no signup.
Dividend yield
4.00%
Annual income
$200.00
Monthly income
$16.67
Yield on cost
5.00%
Your dividend return based on what you originally paid, not today's price.
Dividend yield tells you what percentage of a stock's price comes back to you as cash each year. It is a simple ratio between two per-share numbers — the dividend a company pays over twelve months, and what one share costs today.
Dividend Yield = (Annual Dividend Per Share ÷ Current Share Price) × 100
Most U.S. companies pay quarterly, so take one quarterly payment and multiply by four. Monthly payers multiply by twelve; semi-annual payers by two. Leave out special or one-time dividends — they inflate the yield and are not repeated next year.
Annual Dividend = Quarterly Dividend Per Share × 4
Use the current market price for the yield you would get buying today, or your own purchase price to get yield on cost — the yield your original money is earning now.
Yield on Cost = (Annual Dividend Per Share ÷ Your Purchase Price) × 100
Suppose a stock trades at $50 a share and pays a $0.50 dividend every quarter.
So the stock yields 4%. Owning 200 shares ($10,000 worth) would produce 200 × $2.00 = $400 a year, or about $400 ÷ 12 = $33 a month. If you had bought those same shares years earlier at $25, your yield on cost would be $2.00 ÷ $25 = 8% — the market yield stays at 4% for a new buyer, but your original dollars are working twice as hard.
Yield on its own is not a quality score — it is just price versus payout. A broad dividend portfolio usually lands between 3% and 5%; large, steady payers often sit near 2–4%, while REITs and utilities run higher because they distribute most of their earnings. A yield well above 8% is usually the market pricing in a cut rather than a bargain, since yield rises automatically when the share price falls. Before treating a high number as income, check the payout ratio and whether the company has actually kept raising the dividend. A modest yield that grows every year normally beats a large one that gets reduced.
Dividend yield = annual dividend per share ÷ current share price × 100. A stock paying $2 a year at a $50 price yields 4%.
The dividend yield formula is: Dividend Yield (%) = (Annual Dividend Per Share ÷ Current Share Price) × 100. Both inputs must be per-share figures for the same currency. If you only know the total dollars a company pays out, divide that by its share count first to get the dividend per share.
Multiply one regular payment by how many times a year it is paid: a quarterly dividend × 4, a monthly dividend × 12, a semi-annual dividend × 2. A stock paying $0.50 each quarter has a $2.00 annual dividend. Skip special one-time dividends — they are not part of the regular rate and can make the yield look higher than it really is.
Yield on cost uses the price you originally paid instead of today's price: annual dividend ÷ your purchase price. As a company raises its dividend over the years, your yield on cost rises even though the market yield stays similar.
No. An unusually high yield (say, above 8–10%) often signals the market expects a dividend cut. Sustainable yields from companies with a low payout ratio and a history of increases usually beat chasing the highest number.
Most U.S. companies pay quarterly, so the annual dividend is roughly four times the quarterly payment. A few, like Realty Income, pay monthly.
Keep going
Reinvest those dividends and watch them compound, or find beginner-friendly payers to start with.