Dividend Investing Metrics
How much income does a stock return to shareholders?
Dividend metrics help income investors evaluate how much cash a company returns to shareholders and whether those payments are sustainable. Yield shows the income relative to price, the payout and retention ratios reveal how much profit is distributed versus reinvested, and total return combines dividends with price appreciation. Together they separate healthy, growing dividends from ones at risk of being cut.
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Open the Dividend Screener12 terms in this topic
Dividend yield
A financial ratio showing how much a company pays in dividends relative to its stock price, expressed as an annual percentage.
Dividend per share
The total amount of dividends paid out over a period divided by the number of outstanding shares, representing the dividend each share receives.
Dividend payout ratio
The percentage of earnings paid to shareholders in dividends, calculated as annual dividends per share divided by earnings per share.
Retention ratio
The proportion of net income retained in the business rather than paid out as dividends, calculated as 1 minus dividend payout ratio.
Total stock return
The complete return from an investment including both capital appreciation and dividends, expressed as a percentage of the initial investment.
Capital gains yield
The percentage price appreciation of an investment, calculated as the change in price divided by the original purchase price.
Yield to maturity
The total return anticipated on a bond if held until maturity, accounting for all coupon payments and any capital gain or loss.
Ex-dividend date
The cutoff date for a dividend: investors who buy a stock on or after the ex-dividend date do not receive the next dividend payment.
Dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP)
A program that automatically uses cash dividends to buy additional shares of the same stock or fund, compounding the investment over time.
Dividend growth rate
The annualized rate at which a company's dividend per share increases over a period, often measured as a 3, 5, or 10-year compound annual growth rate.
Buyback yield
The percentage of a company's market value returned to shareholders through share repurchases over the past year, calculated as net buybacks divided by market cap.
Shareholder yield
The total cash returned to shareholders as a percentage of market value, combining dividend yield, buyback yield, and in some definitions net debt reduction.