Dividend Calculator

How to use the dividend calculator

1. Enter the share price, then either the number of shares you own or the dollar amount you plan to invest.
2. Enter the annual dividend per share, or the dividend yield if that’s what your brokerage shows.
3. Choose how often the dividend is paid. Most US stocks pay quarterly.
4. Optionally, tick the DRIP box to see how reinvesting dividends could grow your holding year by year.

Dividend formulas, including dividend yield

How to calculate dividend yield

Divide the annual dividend per share by the current share price, then multiply by 100. A stock at $60 paying $2.40 a year has a dividend yield of 2.40 ÷ 60 × 100 = 4%. Yield changes whenever the share price moves, even if the dividend itself stays the same.

Worked example

You invest $12,000 in a stock priced at $60 that pays $2.40 per share a year, in monthly installments.

1. Shares owned: $12,000 ÷ $60 = 200 shares.
2. Annual dividend income: 200 × $2.40 = $480 a year.
3. Income per payment: $480 ÷ 12 = $40 a month.
4. Dividend yield: $2.40 ÷ $60 × 100 = 4%.

What is dividend reinvestment (DRIP)?

This page also works as a DRIP calculator: tick “Show a dividend reinvestment (DRIP) projection” to see your share count, dividends and holding value grow year by year.

A dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) uses each dividend payment to buy more shares instead of paying you cash. Those extra shares then earn dividends of their own, so your share count and your income can grow over time even if you never add new money. Many US brokerages let you turn on automatic reinvestment, often including fractional shares.

The projection in this calculator reinvests every payment at the share price at that time and shows the result for each year, alongside what you would collect in cash without reinvesting.

When you’d actually use a dividend calculator

• The “my portfolio pays for my streaming” milestone. Work out how many shares it takes for your monthly dividends to cover your subscriptions, then decide whether to celebrate or keep going.
• Funding the block-party cookout. See how many quarterly payments it would take to cover burgers, buns and an alarming amount of charcoal.
• Fact-checking a hot stock tip at Thanksgiving. Turn a “great yield” claim into actual dollars a year before the pie is served.

How we calculate

Annual income, payment size and yield use the standard formulas above. When you enter a yield instead of a dollar dividend, the dividend per share is the share price × yield ÷ 100. When you enter an amount invested, shares are calculated as the amount ÷ share price and may include fractions.

The DRIP projection works one payment at a time. Each payment equals shares owned × annual dividend ÷ payments per year, and buys more shares at the current price. The share price grows smoothly through the year at your chosen rate, and the dividend per share rises once a year at your chosen growth rate. Taxes, fees and commissions are not included, and amounts are rounded to the cent for display only.