Capital Gains Yield Calculator
This capital gains yield calculator measures the price return on a share or any asset you have bought and are watching or have sold. Capital gains yield is the part of your return that comes purely from the price moving, separate from any dividends or interest, and it is worked out as the change in price divided by the price you originally paid. You enter the buy price, the current or sell price, any income such as dividends received over the holding period, and how many years you have held the asset. The calculator shows the capital gains yield on its own, then adds the income to give the total return, so you can see how much of your gain came from price growth versus payouts. It also annualises the price gain, converting a multi-year move into a compound yearly rate so you can compare holdings of different lengths on a level footing, and it reports the plain dollar gain for each unit you hold. Investors use it to judge how a holding has performed, to separate income stocks from growth stocks, and to sense-check whether a rising share price is keeping pace with what they expected. Enter prices per share or per unit, and keep the income figure over the same period as the holding. The figures are an estimate for your own analysis and are not financial advice.
Capital gains yield uses only the price change. Income is added to give the total return. The annualised figure turns the price gain into a compound yearly rate over the holding period.
Capital gains yield ignores income; total return adds it back. Past performance does not predict future returns. Estimate only, not financial advice.
How it works
Capital gains yield is the sell or current price minus the buy price, divided by the buy price, expressed as a percentage. It captures only the price movement, so it is the growth part of your return. Adding the income yield, which is the dividends or interest received divided by the same buy price, gives the total return over the period. To annualise, the calculator divides the sell price by the buy price, raises the result to the power of one divided by the years held, and subtracts one, which compounds the gain into a steady yearly rate. The dollar gain is simply the sell price less the buy price for each share or unit you hold.
Worked example
You bought a share at $12.00 and it is now worth $15.00, and over the three years you held it you collected $0.60 of dividends per share. The capital gains yield is $3.00 divided by $12.00, which is 25.00%. The dividends add an income yield of $0.60 divided by $12.00, which is 5%, so the total return is 30.00%. Spreading the 25% price gain across three years and compounding gives an annualised price return of about 7.72% a year. The plain dollar gain is $15.00 less $12.00, which is $3.00 for every share you hold.
Related calculators
- Dividend Yield Calculator: income return on shares.
- ROI Calculator: overall return on investment.
- CGT Calculator NZ: tax on a capital gain.
- NPV Calculator: present value of cash flows.