A dividend yield calculator that turns three plain inputs — a share price, a dividend payment and how often it is paid — into the numbers income investors actually compare: the current yield, the yield on cost, your annual and monthly income, and a year-by-year income projection with optional dividend reinvestment. It is built for anyone screening income shares, checking whether a holding still earns its keep, or sizing how many shares are needed to hit an income target.
How it works
The engine starts by annualising your dividend. You enter the cash value of a single payment and choose a frequency; multiplying the two gives the annual dividend per share. Dividing that by the current price gives the current (or forward) yield, and dividing it by your cost basis — the average price you paid — gives the yield on cost. Multiply the annual dividend per share by the number of shares you hold and you have your annual income; the tool also shows the average monthly figure and the cash you receive in each individual payment.
The breakdown panel lays every step out in order, so you can see exactly how the percentage is built rather than trusting a single number. A doughnut chart shows how much of one share’s price the annual dividend represents. The projection then compounds: each year the dividend per share grows by the rate you set, and if you switch on DRIP the dividends buy more shares at the current price, so the income base expands over time. A running cumulative column shows the total cash received across the horizon, and a payback figure estimates how many years of dividends it takes to recover what the position cost.
Worked example
Suppose a share trades at 50 and pays a 0.45 dividend each quarter. Annualised that is 0.45 times 4, or 1.80 per share. The current yield is 1.80 divided by 50 — a 3.60% yield. If your average buy price was 35, your yield on cost is 1.80 divided by 35, about 5.14% — noticeably higher because you bought below today’s price. Holding 200 shares produces 360 per year in income, or roughly 30 per month on average. Add 5% annual dividend growth over ten years and the year-ten dividend per share rises to about 2.79, lifting the income on those 200 shares to roughly 558 a year — and more still if you reinvest along the way.
Formula note
Current yield uses yield = (dividend per payment times payments per year) divided by share price, times 100. Yield on cost swaps the share price for your cost basis. The growth projection applies D times (1 + g) to the power n minus 1 to the annual dividend in year n, where g is the growth rate, and the DRIP path adds income divided by price new shares each year. Every figure is gross of tax and fees, and every calculation runs locally — no prices, holdings or numbers are ever uploaded.