Dividend Yield Formula

It estimates a company's annual dividends relative to its market value.

Author: David Bickerton
David Bickerton
David Bickerton
Asset Management | Financial Analysis

Previously a Portfolio Manager for MDH Investment Management, David has been with the firm for nearly a decade, serving as President since 2015. He has extensive experience in wealth management, investments and portfolio management.

David holds a BS from Miami University in Finance.

Reviewed By: Matthew Retzloff
Matthew Retzloff
Matthew Retzloff
Investment Banking | Corporate Development

Matthew started his finance career working as an investment banking analyst for Falcon Capital Partners, a healthcare IT boutique, before moving on to work for Raymond James Financial, Inc in their specialty finance coverage group in Atlanta. Matthew then started in a role in corporate development at Babcock & Wilcox before moving to a corporate development associate role with Caesars Entertainment Corporation where he currently is. Matthew provides support to Caesars' M&A processes including evaluating inbound teasers/CIMs to identify possible acquisition targets, due diligence, constructing financial models, corporate valuation, and interacting with potential acquisition targets.

Matthew has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts in German from University of North Carolina.

Last Updated:October 31, 2023

What is Dividend Yield?

Dividend yield shows the percentage of the amount shareholders receive per share compared to the current market price of that share. It depends on the board of directors' decisions and is often announced quarterly, every six months, or annually. 

The dividend yield formula estimates a company's annual dividends relative to its market value. It expresses a percentage of the stock's current price and tells you how much shareholders receive dividend payments in the future based on the market value of that share.

Yielding and market value has a converse relationship. For example, let's suppose the dividend rate remains the same; increasing the market value of shares leads to a decrease in the dividend yield, whereas decreasing the market value of stock results in an increasing dividend yield. 

The yield rate fluctuates at a higher rate since it inversely correlates with market value fluctuations. Therefore, a stock with a high yield provides shareholders with good income as the current price of that stock decreases.

Key Takeaways

  • The dividend yield shows how much cash shareholders get compared to what each share is worth on the market.
  • Higher yield means the company’s stocks trade at lower prices in the market. Investors prefer stocks with high yields as they offer them high dividend rates.
  • A company with a high yield is not always doing better just because its dividend yield is higher.
  • The yield rate varies at a higher rate as it inversely correlates with market value fluctuations.
  • Stocks with a high dividend yield may be a good way for investors to make money. But they could also be risky because the company could stop paying dividends to protect its cash reserves for future costs that it could need in events of poor operating results or market conditions.

Understanding Dividend Yields

Investors who care about companies that provide a good source of income must look at the company's dividend yields with keeping in mind the following:

  • A company with a high dividend yield provides investors with high dividend rates and attracts more investors as its market price decreases. Generally, investors prefer to purchase stocks at lower prices due to increasing dividend yield.
  • A company with low dividend yields provides investors with lower dividend rates, so investors avoid this company as its market price increases. Generally, investors avoid purchasing stocks at higher prices due to decreasing dividend yield.

Stocks with high yields may be a good opportunity for investors to make money. Still, it could also be risky since the company could cut dividends entirely once the market value drops because of horrible operating results or market conditions. 

That's why investors should look at a company's yield and other factors, including the company's payout ratio. The payout ratio determines the portions of the company's earnings that are distributed to shareholders. 

Key Considerations for Investors

Investors must consider some financial metrics and questions to understand how the company does financially. Keep in mind some fundamental questions:

1. Do you know the company's business model and what industry it operates within?

Investors should research the company online or through other sources to fully understand the company overall.

2. Do you know how the business generates profits? 

Investors can find all financial information in the company's financial statements and balance sheets.

Public companies annually report their financial statement, which is free and posted on their website. In contrast, private companies do not make their financial statements public.

3. Do you know the company's life cycle? Is the company growing or mature company?

Growing businesses may provide a lower dividend rate as they reinvest their earnings to fuel growth.

On the other hand, mature companies provide higher dividend rates as they have expanded their operations and don't need to use a large portion of their net income for reinvestment. 

4. Does the business have any relevance in its sector? 

Investors generally should be interested in the leading company and dominant company or the company that is in the process of being one of the market leaders.

5. What is the growth rate of the company?

The growth rate of a corporation is a measurement of the rise in revenue and the possibility for an increase over time. Generally, mature companies have a steady growth rate, while companies in a growth life cycle experience are increasing profit and growth rates.

Dividend yield Formula

A yield between 2% and 4% is considered reasonable in the stock market, while anything above 4 percent can be a risky and significant investment.

Risky investment as its dividend yield is sensitive to the market price. Also, companies could cut dividends entirely if the market value continues to drop because of horrible operating results or market conditions.

Significant investment increases the chances of getting a higher dividend rate.

This metric is calculated by dividing the annual dividend paid to shareholders (DPS) by the current price per share (market price) and multiplying by a hundred to get the dividend yield percentage.

Dividend yield formula = Annual dividend per share/market price per share.

1. Dividends paid per share (DPS)

DPS is the company's payout for each outstanding share during a specific period. The DPS is the payout for a period divided by the total number of shares outstanding.

The dividend per share is calculated by getting the difference between the dividends for the period and annual dividends per share and then dividing it by the number of outstanding shares.

DPS = Annual dividends amount / Number of shares outstanding

  1. When the dividend per share (DPS) increases over time, it shows that the company keeps making more money, attracting more investors.
  2. When the dividend per share (DPS) goes down over time, it shows that the company has poor earnings and can be a red flag for a financial crisis.

2. Example of dividends per share

Suppose ABC has 7 million shares outstanding and paid a total of $600,000 in dividends last year, with a semi-annual payment of $300,000.

What is the company dividend per share? 

Annual dividend amount: 

DPS = Annual dividends amount / Number of shares outstanding

DPS = $600,000 / 7,000,000

DPS = $0.086 per share

3. Market price per share

The market price is the current price at which the stock trades on the exchange. Supply and demand dynamics determine the price of a good or service in the market. 

Dividend yield examples

Understanding dividend yield requires diving into real-world examples to understand how companies and investors determine the best company shares to purchase. 

The following two examples illustrate how to calculate the dividend yield formula.

1. Company LYC and TYL have the following information for the last year, 2021:

Example
Factor LYC TYL
Number of outstanding shares 950,000 shares 105,000 shares
Market price per share $33 per share $45 per share
Dividend per share (quarterly) $0.49 per share $0.38 per share

Suppose you work as a financial consultant. An investor asks you which company shares the investor should purchase, keeping in mind that the investor would consider dividend payments as a source of income. 

Determine which company has a better dividend payout. Based on the information in the table, it is evident that:

TYL is newer than LYC as it has fewer outstanding shares. Generally, mature companies pay a higher dividend as they have expanded their business, so they don't need to use a large portion of their earnings as reinvestments.

The dividend per share of the TYL company is less than the LYC since the TYL company is considered a new company, so they use the company's earnings to expand their business.

First, compute dividend yielding for both companies:

LYC:

Dividend yield formula = (Annual Dividends per share/market price per share) * 100

= (($0.49 * 4) / $33 per share) * 100

= ($1.96 / $33) * 100

= 0.059 * 100 = 5.94%

TYL:

Dividend yield formula = (Annual dividends per share/market price per share) * 100

= (($0.38 per share * 4) / $45 per share)

= 1.52 / $45 per share

= 0.034 * 100 = 3.38%

Hence, The rates for LYC and TYL are currently 5.94% and 3.38%. Therefore, LYC is a better option for investment as it has a higher yield.

2. TYL trades at $90 per share. The corporation pays steady quarterly dividends of $0.45 per share. Calculate the dividend yield of TYL.

As mentioned in the question, the company pays a dividend of $0.45 quarterly. Therefore, to get the annual dividend per share, multiply the value of the quarterly dividend of $0.45 by the number of dividend payments.

 

Annual dividend = payment * number of payments per year

= $0.45 * 4

= 1.8

Dividend yield formula = (Dividends per share/market price per share) * 100

= $1.8 per share / $90

= 0.02 * 10

= 2%

Hence, the dividend yield of TYL company is 2% 

Advantages and disadvantages of high dividend yield

Investing in a company's stock that pays a reasonable dividend rate is very enticing for investors as they provide consistent cash flows. However, buying and holding high-yield stocks has advantages and disadvantages for investors.

Some of the advantages of high-yield stocks are as follows:

  • Investing in high-yield stocks allows you to accumulate more money over time faster. To take advantage of compound interest, you can use this method to build up your cash quicker and invest that money in new stocks.
  • The risk of losing business value during economic instability decreases with high-yield stocks but doesn't imply that there isn't any risk.

However, when companies begin to give back some of their earnings to investors in dividend form, the risk of missing dividend payments is much lower than the risk of investing in stock for capital appreciation.

Investing in stock for capital appreciation is risky as earnings aren't realized until selling the stock. Therefore, risker investors would prefer investment for capital appreciation rather than dividends payouts.

In contrast, risk-averse investors prefer dividend payments since they know how much they would get from their investments.

One of the disadvantages of high-yield stocks is that a stock with a high dividend yield indicates that a stock is trading at a low price in the market. 

Therefore, it is essential to understand that a high yield does not always indicate that companies have good financial health. That's why investors should be aware that there is a reason why the dividend yield is so high.

Researched and authored by Khadega Bazarah | Linkedin

Reviewed and Edited by Aditya Salunke I LinkedIn

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