Dividend Calculator
Work out a stock’s dividend yield and the income from your shares, see how reinvested dividends (DRIP) grow over the years, and find what you need to invest for a target income.
How to Use
- Choose Yield & income for one stock, DRIP growth for a projection over years, or Income goal to find what you need to invest.
- For yield, enter the share price and the yearly dividend per share; add your shares and what you paid to see your income and yield on cost.
- For DRIP growth, enter the starting amount, the yield, how fast the dividend and the price grow each year, the years and any yearly additions.
- Choose how often the dividend is paid and whether it is reinvested or taken as cash.
- Read the results, then check the chart and the year-by-year table for the income each year.
Worked Example
Yield and income. A stock trades at $45 and pays $1.80 a year in four quarterly payments of $0.45. The yield is 1.80 ÷ 45 = 4%. 200 shares (worth $9,000) pay 200 × 1.80 = $360 a year, $90 a quarter. If you bought them at $36, your yield on cost is 1.80 ÷ 36 = 5%.
Reinvesting. $10,000 at a 4% yield, paid quarterly, with the dividend and the price both growing 5% a year. Each quarter the price rises by 1.051/4 = 1.0122722 and the dividend reinvested adds 1% more shares, so the holding grows by 1.0122722 × 1.01 − 1 = 2.2395% a quarter. After 40 quarters it is worth 10,000 × 1.02239540 = $24,252.02, and it pays $970.08 a year.
The common mistake: judging a holding by its yield on cost. After 20 years of reinvesting at a 4% starting yield, with dividends growing 6% and the price 5% a year, the income is 30.84% of the original $10,000 — but the yield on the holding’s value today is only 4.83%. Whether to keep it or switch to something else depends on that current yield, not on what you once paid.
Show Work
Formulas
Dividends and Reinvestment
Dividends are as old as joint-stock companies. The Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, paid its shareholders dividends — at times in spices rather than cash — and for much of stock-market history dividends have supplied a large share of investorsand for long stretches of the next three centuries most of a stock investor’s return came from dividends rather than rising prices.rsquo; total return.
Dividend reinvestment plans, which use each payment to buy more shares automatically, became common among large US companies from the 1970s, often with no commission. Today most brokers will reinvest dividends in fractional shares on request, which is what the DRIP mode here assumes: every payment buys shares at that day’s price, so the number of shares — and next year’s dividend — keeps growing.
About This Calculator
This calculator works out the dividend yield, income and yield on cost for a holding, projects a dividend reinvestment plan payment by payment with separate growth rates for the dividend and the share price, and finds the investment needed for a target income. When the dividend and the price grow at the same rate, the projection is checked against the standard future-value formula. It assumes the dividend is never cut and ignores taxes and fees.
All calculations run in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to a server.
Estimates for planning and education — not financial, tax or legal advice.
Related tools: Dollar-Cost Averaging Calculator, Compound Interest Calculator, and Retirement Calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is dividend yield calculated?
Divide the yearly dividend per share by the share price. A $45 stock paying $1.80 a year yields 1.80 ÷ 45 = 4%. The yield moves with the price: if the price fell to $36 with the same dividend, the yield would be 5%.
What is yield on cost?
The yearly dividend divided by what you paid per share. Bought at $36, that $1.80 dividend is a 5% yield on cost while new buyers get 4%. It rises as dividends grow: $10,000 at a 4% yield with dividends growing 6% a year and reinvested pays $3,083.76 a year after 20 years — 30.84% on the original $10,000.
How much difference does reinvesting dividends make?
A lot over long periods. $10,000 at a 4% yield, dividends growing 6% and the price 5% a year, is worth $63,780.69 after 20 years with every dividend reinvested. Taking the dividends as cash leaves a $26,532.98 holding plus $15,262.00 collected — $41,794.98, which is $21,985.71 less.
How much do I need to invest for $2,000 a month?
$24,000 a year divided by the yield. At 4% that is $600,000; at 5% it is $480,000. Reaching for a much higher yield cuts the amount needed but often means a riskier company whose dividend may be cut.
Does this include taxes?
No. In a taxable US account, dividends are taxable in the year they are paid even when they are reinvested, so $360 of reinvested dividends is still $360 of income to report. Inside an IRA or 401(k) the tax is deferred or, in a Roth, generally avoided. Projections here are before tax.
How do I use the Dividend Calculator?
Simply type your numbers and read the result, which refreshes the instant you change something. There is nothing to submit and nothing to wait for.
Is it free? Does it work without internet?
Yes to both. It is free with no sign-up, and once the page has loaded it keeps working even with no internet.
Where does my data go?
Nowhere — every calculation runs on your own device. Nothing you enter is uploaded, logged, or stored.
Common Use Cases
Income from a holding
200 shares of a $45 stock paying $1.80 a year bring $360 a year, or $90 each quarter.
Monthly payers
500 shares at $55.40 paying $3.24 a year, monthly, yield 5.85% and pay $135 a month.
Long-term DRIP plan
$5,000 plus $2,400 a year at a 3% yield, with dividends and the price growing 7% a year, reaches $311,462.90 in 25 years.
Retirement income target
$24,000 a year of dividends needs $600,000 invested at a 4% yield.
Judging a past purchase
Shares bought at $36 that now pay $1.80 a year earn 5% on cost, against 4% for a buyer at today’s $45.
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