How the dividend income is worked out
One payment is costed on the whole holding, the year is that payment times the number of payments, and the month is the year divided by twelve. Nothing else is involved.
- One payment = shares held × dividend per share
- Annual dividend income = one payment × payments a year
- Monthly average = annual dividend income ÷ 12
- Dividend per share a year = dividend per share × payments a year
- Cost of the holding = shares held × average cost per share
- Yield on cost = (annual dividend income ÷ cost of the holding) × 100
- Market value = shares held × current price
- Yield at the current price = (dividend per share a year ÷ current price) × 100
Worked example: 500.0000 shares paying 0.25 per share four times a year, bought at an average cost of 40.00, with a current price of 50.00. One payment is 500.0000 × 0.25 = 125.00, the year is 125.00 × 4 = 500.00, and the monthly average is 500.00 ÷ 12 = 41.66. The holding cost 500.0000 × 40.00 = 20,000.00, so the yield on cost is 500.00 ÷ 20,000.00 × 100 = 2.50%. At 50.00 the market value is 500.0000 × 50.00 = 25,000.00, the dividend per share a year is 0.25 × 4 = 1.00, and the yield at that price is 1.00 ÷ 50.00 × 100 = 2.00%. Type those four figures in and the page returns every one of them.
Note the two yields measure different things, and both are printed: yield on cost divides the income by what you paid, the yield at the current price divides it by what the shares are worth now. When the price has risen since you bought, the first reads higher than the second; the gap between them is the same thing from two sides.
Rounding: every figure on this page is rounded down, never up — the same rule as the rest of the site. Share counts and per-share amounts are shown to four decimals, money and percentages to two, so the number you read is never larger than the one that was computed. The monthly average is the annual figure divided by twelve and then rounded down, so twelve of them can fall a cent or two short of the year — the annual line is the one to trust.
This page counts what already happened
There is no field for how many years you will hold, and there is no field for a growth rate — no dividend growth, no price growth, nothing of the kind. This page is not built to be pointed at a date ahead of today. It takes the dividends your holding pays, at the rate you say it pays them, and tells you what they come to: per payment, per year, per month.
That is why the four boxes are the whole page. A dividend that has not been declared yet is not a number you have, and a number you do not have cannot be typed in — so this page does not invent one. If the dividend changes, change the box, and the answer changes with it.
How this page differs from the dividend reinvestment calculator
The two pages start from the same place — a holding and its dividends — and then go in different directions, so use the one that matches your question:
- This page takes the shares you hold now and works out what they pay you: the income per payment, per year and per month, the yield on cost, and the yield at a price you type. The dividend is money you receive, and the share count stays where you put it.
- The dividend reinvestment calculator takes each dividend you received and puts it back into shares: it works out how many shares each payment buys, what that does to your share count and your average cost, and what the income becomes once the extra shares are earning too.
So: what do my shares pay me? is this page. What do my shares become if I keep buying more with the dividends? is that one. Neither page needs the other's answer, and neither asks you for a year count.
What is counted, and what is not
This page uses only the share count, the dividend per share, the number of payments, and — if you type them — the average cost and the current price. Nothing else goes into the arithmetic.
- Taxes are not counted. No dividend tax, no withholding, no tax of any kind. There is no field for one, so every figure here is a before-tax figure: it is what the holding pays, not what reaches your account.
- Reinvestment is not counted. On this page a dividend is money received; it does not buy more shares and the share count does not grow. For what reinvesting does to your shares and your cost, use the dividend reinvestment calculator.
- No live prices. This page never fetches a quote, a dividend history or a payout date, and it has no connection to a market data source — so it can never show you a figure that is not real. Every number on the page is yours to type, and where one is missing the page shows nothing rather than a figure it did not get from you.
- Nothing is worked out for a date ahead of today. No holding period, no growth rate, no assumed reinvestment, no compounding. The page describes the holding and the dividend you entered, as they stand.
- The dividend is taken as steady. The figure you type is applied to every payment in the year. Companies cut, raise and skip dividends, and none of that is modelled here — if the payments differ, run the page once per rate and add them yourself.
- Not counted: fees and commissions, currency conversion, stock splits, special dividends and return of capital, and any charge or adjustment you have not typed in. There is no field for any of them.
- Fractional shares are counted in full. A holding of 500.0000 shares is 500.0000 here. If your broker holds a different fraction, your own figure will differ slightly from this one.
- Not built: several holdings at once, importing a statement, saving your history, signing in, or placing an order. There is no account here and nothing is stored.
The result describes the holding and the dividend you entered. It is not a view on whether that holding is worth keeping, and this page takes no position on it.
Frequently asked questions
What does this dividend calculator work out?
From the figures you type: your dividend income per payment, your annual dividend income, and the monthly average. With your average cost it adds the cost of the holding and the yield on cost. With a current price it adds the market value and the yield at that price. All of it is printed as arithmetic using your own numbers, underneath the results.
Is a stock dividend calculator the same as a dividend income calculator?
In everyday use, yes — both names are used for the same job: shares held, dividend per share, and what that comes to. This page does that job, and it splits the answer three ways — per payment, per year and per month — because the same holding reads very differently across those three.
How do I see my monthly dividend income?
Enter the shares you hold, the dividend one share pays, and how many times a year it pays; the monthly average is in the results, and the line under it shows the sum — the annual income divided by twelve. If the payments really are monthly, pick 12 payments a year and the per-payment figure and the monthly figure will meet.
How is annual dividend income worked out here?
One payment is the shares you hold times the dividend per share; the annual income is that payment times the number of payments a year. For 500.0000 shares at 0.25 per share, paid four times a year: 125.00 a payment, 500.00 a year. The page prints both lines exactly as it worked them out.
What counts as a dividend payout on this page?
Whatever you type into the dividend box, applied to every payment in the year: an ordinary cash dividend, in the currency you think in. Special dividends, return of capital and share dividends are not handled — there is no field that would treat them differently, and a payout that happens once is better run as its own calculation.
How do I calculate dividend yield on this page?
Two ways, and the page does both. Yield on cost divides the annual income by what you paid for the holding — type your average cost per share and it appears. Yield at the current price divides the dividend per share a year by a current price — type the price and that one appears. They answer different questions: the first is measured against your cost, the second against what the shares are worth now.
Does it ask how many years I will hold, or for a growth rate?
No. There is no field for either, on purpose. This page works out what the dividends you already receive come to — the holding as it stands, the dividend as you typed it. Nothing here is carried forward to a later date, and no rate of increase is applied to anything.
Can it look up my dividend or my price?
No. There is no lookup on this page and no connection to any market data source — no quote, no dividend history, no payout calendar. This page would rather show nothing than show a number it did not get from you, so you type the dividend and, if you want the market value and the yield, the price.
Does it count taxes?
No. There is no tax field anywhere on this page, so every figure it returns is before tax. What actually reaches you depends on where the company is domiciled, on your own tax position and on any withholding, none of which is asked for here.
Does it handle reinvesting the dividends?
Not here — on this page the share count stays where you put it and the dividend is money received. The dividend reinvestment calculator is the page for the other question: it works out how many shares each payment buys and what that does to your cost and your income.
How is this different from the other calculators on this site?
They work on the cost; this one works on the income. The stock average calculator pools buys into an average cost, the average down calculator shows what one more purchase does to it, the DCA calculator takes the money invested each period instead of share counts, the dividend reinvestment calculator puts dividends back into shares, and the stock profit calculator settles the sale. This is the one that answers what the holding pays you.
Does this page tell me whether I should hold these shares?
No, and nothing here should be read that way. The page does the arithmetic on the holding you describe; it does not rank that holding against any other, compare it with anything, or tell you what to do with your money. It answers one question only: given these shares and this dividend, what does it pay me?
Does it work on my phone, and do I need an account?
Yes to the first, and no to the second. The fields stack to a single column on a narrow screen and the results stay inside the width of the page. There is no sign-up, no pop-up and nothing to install: the whole calculation runs in your browser, and your numbers are not sent anywhere.