Stock Return Calculator

Calculate total and annualised return on a share holding including dividends.

Please note: For information only, not investment advice. Share prices can fall as well as rise and past performance does not predict future results.

What the Stock Return Calculator does

Total return combines the change in share price with the dividends paid along the way. Annualising it makes holdings of different lengths comparable, which the raw percentage cannot do.

Formula

Capital return % = (Current − Buy) ÷ Buy × 100
Dividend return % = Dividends per share ÷ Buy × 100
Total return = Capital return + Dividend return
Annualised = (Total value ÷ Cost)^(1 ÷ Years) − 1

Inputs explained

Input	Unit	Required	Notes
Purchase price per share	selected currency	Yes	Accepts more than 0.
Current or sale price per share	selected currency	Yes	Accepts 0 or more.
Number of shares	number	Yes	Accepts more than 0.
Total dividends per share	selected currency	Optional	Accepts 0 or more.
Holding period	years	Optional	Accepts 0 or more.
Currency	one of 10 options	Optional	—

How to use it

Choose Currency.
Enter Purchase price per share, Current or sale price per share and Number of shares.
Optionally add Total dividends per share and Holding period.
Select Calculate.

Worked example

Bought at $80, now $104, $6 of dividends per share, held 3 years.

Buy: 80
Current: 104
Dividends: 6
Years: 3

Capital return 30%, dividend return 7.5%, total 37.5%, annualising to about 11.2%.

Reading the result

Capital return and dividend return are added, not compounded — an approximation that holds well for modest dividend yields but diverges more the higher the yield and the longer the holding period.
Leaving "years" blank shows only the un-annualised total return — comparing that figure against another holding's annualised (CAGR) figure is not a fair comparison unless both use the same basis.

Assumptions and limitations

The total return figure assumes dividends were taken as cash, not reinvested into more shares — the notes already say this; the practical effect is that this is a lower bound versus an equivalent reinvested-dividend total return.
Years accepts fractional values with no lower bound beyond zero — a strong short-term gain annualised over a period of a few months can produce a CAGR far higher than any sustainable annual pace.

Common mistakes

Comparing an un-annualised total return from a short holding period directly against a long-run annual benchmark figure without filling in "years" first.
Reading the total return as what you would have earned with dividends reinvested — it is not; the dividend reinvestment calculator models that separately.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the annualised return lower than the total return?

Because it spreads the gain across the years and accounts for compounding. A 37.5% gain over three years is roughly 11.2% a year, not 12.5%.