Annual Dividend Yield
Annual Dividend Yield tells an investor how much a company pays out in dividends over a year compared with the current price of its shares.
How it is calculated
Regular dividends per share with an ex-dividend date in the last 12 months ÷ Stock Price
Special dividends are left out. Nothing is shown for a company with no dividend history on file, and no payout ratio when earnings per share are zero or negative.
- Unit
- Percent
- Periods
- Latest
- Source
- Calculated by stockrow from the inputs below
- Made from
- Dividends (Ex), Stock Price
Reading Annual Dividend Yield
How to read it
Annual Dividend Yield sets the dividends a company pays over a year against its share price, expressed as a percentage. stockrow shows the latest figure rather than a history. The yield rises when the company raises its dividend or when the share price falls, and drops when the dividend is cut or the price climbs. That means a change in the yield does not always reflect a change in what shareholders are paid — often it is the price that has moved.
What is typical
Mature businesses with steady cash flows, such as utilities, telecoms, consumer staples and real estate companies, tend to pay a larger share of their earnings as dividends and so show higher yields. Growth companies and many technology firms reinvest their cash or buy back shares instead, and often pay little or nothing. Compare the value with the median for the company’s sector.
Pitfalls
A high yield can be a warning rather than a bargain: when the market expects a dividend cut, the price often falls first and the yield looks generous until the cut arrives. Special one-off dividends are left out, so a company that returns cash that way pays more than the yield shows. Buybacks return cash to shareholders too but do not appear in the yield. Because the figure reflects the latest price, it can shift from day to day.