Dividend Yield Calculator

How to use the dividend yield calculator

1. Enter the Share price.
2. Under Dividend entered as, choose Annual dividend per share or Dividend per payment, then enter the Dividend per share. Pick the Payments per year: Quarterly (4), Monthly (12), Semi-annually (2) or Annually (1). A per-payment dividend is multiplied by this number; the frequency also sets how often dividends are reinvested in the projection.
3. Enter the Shares owned and, if you want your personal yield, Your purchase price per share (optional).
4. Choose the Currency.
5. In Dividend reinvestment projection, set the Years, the expected Dividend growth (% per year) and Share price growth (% per year), and tick or untick Reinvest dividends (DRIP).

The first results show the Dividend yield, the Annual dividend per share, your Annual income, the Income per payment, the Average per month and the Yield on cost. The second group shows the projection: the number of shares, the annual income in the last year, the total dividends received and the final value, with a comparison without reinvestment. The chart and the Year by year table detail each year; Copy table copies it.

The formulas

Dividend yield = annual dividend per share ÷ share price × 100

Annual income = annual dividend per share × shares owned

Yield on cost = annual dividend per share ÷ your purchase price × 100

Example: a $50 stock paying $2 a year yields 4%. With 100 shares, you receive $200 a year, or $50 each quarter. If you bought at $40, your yield on cost is 5%: the same dividend is a higher return on what you actually paid.

A dividend of $0.1575 paid monthly is $1.89 a year. The tool keeps fractions of a cent in per-share amounts so small monthly dividends are not rounded away.

How the DRIP projection works

Each year, the dividend per share grows by the dividend growth rate (year 1 uses today’s dividend). The share price grows steadily at the price growth rate. On each payment date, the dividends are either used to buy fractional shares at that day’s price (DRIP), or kept as cash. The value at year end is shares × price, plus the cash when dividends are not reinvested.

With the default example (100 shares at $50, $2 a year paid quarterly, dividend growth 5%, price growth 3%, 10 years), reinvesting grows the position to about 153.2 shares worth about $10,294, paying about $462 in year 10. Without reinvestment you would have 100 shares worth about $6,720 plus $2,516 of cash dividends, about $9,235 in total.

The projection assumes constant growth, no fees, no taxes and no discount on reinvested shares. Some Canadian DRIPs offer a small discount, and many brokers reinvest only whole shares.

Dividend cuts and taxes

A high yield is not always a good sign. When a share price falls, the yield based on the last dividend rises, and it can signal that the market expects a dividend cut. Dividends are never guaranteed: companies can reduce or suspend them, as many did in 2008–2009 and 2020. Check the payout ratio and the company’s cash flow, not just the yield.

Taxes also change the real income. In Canada, eligible dividends from Canadian companies benefit from the dividend tax credit in a non-registered account, foreign dividends are often subject to withholding tax, and reinvested dividends are still taxable in the year they are paid. This tool shows amounts before tax. The results are estimates, not investment or tax advice.