- 1). Calculate the regular dividend per share (DPS) a company pays. Look in the company annual report or the most recent quarterly report for the company's total regular dividends and number of outstanding common shares. Divide the earnings by the number of common shares to find the DPS. For example, if a company paid out $1.5 million in regular dividends for the past year and had 3 million ordinary shares outstanding, the DPS is $0.50. Special dividends aren't included in quoted dividend rates as a general rule because they are non-recurring and may not accurately reflect the return investors can expect.
- 2). Figure out the dividends per share of stock you own. Let's say you own 100 shares of a company and last quarter you received a dividend check for $60. Your quarterly dividend per share is the total amount of money divided by the number of shares ($60/100 shares = 60 cents per share).
- 3). Find the total dividends per share you received for a year. To do this, add up all quarterly and special dividends and divide by the number of shares you own. Suppose you received regular dividends of $60 per quarter plus another $25 because the company paid a special dividend. Your total dividends come to $265. If you own 100 shares, this works out to $2.65 per share.
- 4). Calculate the cash value per share of stock dividends. Sometimes corporations issue stockholders additional shares of stock instead of paying cash dividends. Multiply the number of shares issued as a stock dividend by the market price of the stock at the time of issue, and then divide by the number of shares you own. For example, assume you own 200 shares of stock and received an additional 10 shares. Look up the market price of the stock. If it was $25 per share, the total cash value is $250 and the cash value of the dividend per share is $250 for 200 shares, or $1.25 per share.
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