Dividend Yield on Cost Calculator

About this calculator

Yield on cost (YOC) measures a dividend against what you originally paid for the shares, not against today’s market price — the formula is YOC = current annual dividend per share / original purchase price per share. Because it uses your fixed cost basis as the denominator, YOC only grows over time as a company raises its dividend, and can end up dramatically higher than the stock’s current dividend yield for long-held positions in companies with a strong dividend-growth track record.

Dividend growth investors track YOC specifically to see the payoff of buying and holding through years of dividend increases — a stock bought at a modest 2% yield a decade ago can easily be paying a 6–8% yield on the original cost today if the company has compounded its payout, which is the whole thesis behind a “buy and hold forever” dividend growth strategy. It’s a personal, cost-basis-specific number, unlike the current yield that shows on a stock screener, which reflects only today’s price.

This calculator takes the current annual dividend per share and what you originally paid, and returns your true yield on cost, so you can see the real return your original investment is now generating.