Start with the payment amount when you have it
The basic calculation is:
Annual dividend income = shares × annual dividend per share
If you enter a positive annual dividend per share, the calculator uses that amount instead of the yield input. Entering both does not add two income streams.
Without a positive dividend-per-share amount, the calculator derives it from price and yield:
Annual dividend per share = share price × annual yield ÷ 100
Use an annual amount. For example, a $0.50 quarterly payment would be $2 per share for a year only if all four payments were $0.50. A past payment schedule is not a promise of future payments.
A complete holding example
Suppose you own 200 shares, the current price you enter is $50, and the annual dividend is $2 per share. You paid $8,000 in total for the holding.
| Result | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Market value | 200 × $50 | $10,000.00 |
| Annual dividend income | 200 × $2 | $400.00 |
| Average monthly income | $400 ÷ 12 | $33.33 |
| Average quarterly income | $400 ÷ 4 | $100.00 |
| Yield on current value | $400 ÷ $10,000 | 4.00% |
| Yield on your cost | $400 ÷ $8,000 | 5.00% |
The two yields describe the same $400 income using different denominators. Neither changes the dollars the holding pays.
If you enter a 3% yield as well as the $2 annual dividend, the positive dividend-per-share input takes priority. The result remains $400 and the effective yield remains 4%.
A monthly average is not a payment calendar
The $33.33 figure spreads a year of modeled income evenly across 12 months. It does not say you will receive $33.33 each month.
A holding with four equal quarterly payments could instead pay $100 four times a year and nothing in the intervening months. Unequal distributions would produce a different pattern again. This tool has no payment-date schedule.
Monthly and quarterly averages are rounded separately to cents. Multiplying the displayed monthly average by 12 can therefore differ slightly from the annual total; 12 × $33.33 is $399.96.
Yield on price and yield on cost
Yield on current value compares annual income with the market value implied by the price you enter. It changes when that price changes, even if the dividend stays the same.
Yield on cost compares the same annual income with your entered total cost. It is a record of income relative to that cost, not a measure of the holding's total return. It does not include capital gains or losses.
Leave total cost blank when you do not have a reliable number. The calculator will omit yield on cost instead of inventing it. A zero market value cannot support a meaningful income yield comparison.
Choosing an annual dividend input
A trailing amount describes what was paid over a past period. An annualized recent payment extends a payment amount into a full year. They can be different, especially after a change or a special distribution.
Use the same definition consistently when comparing holdings, and keep the source date with the number. This page does not fetch or verify live dividends for a ticker.
For a fund, distributions may include different types of income. The SEC explains those distinctions and why distributions are not an extra return separate from the fund's value in its fund distributions bulletin.
What is included in this estimate
Income is taken as cash. The calculator does not reinvest payments, grow the dividend or model future changes in share count. Taxes, fees and inflation are excluded.
The result is a pre-tax estimate from your inputs, not the amount guaranteed to arrive in your account. To model payments buying more shares, use the DRIP calculator.
Check the cost behind the yield
If you bought the holding in several batches, the average cost calculator can show the share-weighted purchase amount. Its arithmetic is separate from the tax treatment of any shares you later sell.
The examples on this page were checked against Groverow's current calculation on 8 September 2026. Estimates only; no investment recommendation is made.