Capital Gains Yield Calculator

Calculate the percentage price gain on shares you hold, separate from dividends, plus the annualized rate and total return when income is included.

Quick Facts

Formula
CGY = (P1 − P0) ÷ P0 × 100
P0 is purchase price and P1 is current or selling price; the result is a percentage.
Not the same as total return
Total return = CGY + Dividend yield
Capital gains yield ignores dividends and interest — add dividend yield to get total return.

Your Results

Calculated
Capital gains yield
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(Current − Purchase) ÷ Purchase
Total capital gain
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Price change × shares held
Annualized capital gains yield
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Compounded to a per-year rate
Total return incl. dividends
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Capital gains yield + dividend yield

Ready

Enter purchase price, current price, shares, dividends, and holding period, then press Calculate.

How the Capital Gains Yield Calculator works

Capital gains yield measures the price change of an investment as a percentage of what you paid for it — nothing more. It is one of the two building blocks of total return, the other being income (dividends or interest). Keeping the two apart matters: a stock that stays perfectly flat in price but pays a 4% dividend has a 0% capital gains yield and a 4% total return, while a stock that rises 10% but pays nothing has a 10% capital gains yield that also equals its total return.

The formula

For a purchase price P0 and a current or selling price P1, the capital gains yield is:

CGY = (P1 − P0) ÷ P0 × 100

Multiply the price change per share by the number of shares held to get the total dollar capital gain. To compare holding periods of different lengths on equal footing, the calculator also annualizes the yield using a compound growth formula: Annualized CGY = ((P1 ÷ P0)12/months − 1) × 100. This converts any holding period into the equivalent per-year rate, the same logic behind compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Worked example

Buy 100 shares at $50 and later sell (or mark them) at $65, after receiving $1.50 per share in dividends over a 12-month holding period. The capital gains yield is (65 − 50) / 50 × 100 = 30%, for a total capital gain of $1,500. Because the holding period is exactly 12 months, the annualized yield is also 30%. Adding the dividend yield of 1.50 / 50 = 3% gives a total return of 33% for the year.

What the numbers mean

  • Capital gains yield: price appreciation only — it excludes dividends, interest, and any fees or taxes you paid on the transaction.
  • Total return vs. capital gains yield: total return = capital gains yield + dividend yield. A high-dividend stock can have modest price appreciation but a competitive total return.
  • Annualized yield: converts any holding period to a per-year equivalent so you can compare a 3-month trade with a 5-year position on the same basis.

Sanity-check your inputs

  • Use the actual price you paid and the actual price today (or at sale), not a quoted 52-week high or low.
  • This calculator does not subtract brokerage fees, commissions, or capital gains tax — those reduce your realized proceeds separately.
  • A negative capital gains yield simply means the price fell — dividends received can still make total return positive.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the capital gains yield formula?
Capital gains yield equals (Selling price minus Purchase price) divided by Purchase price, expressed as a percentage: CGY = (P1 − P0) ÷ P0 × 100. It measures only the price change of an asset and ignores any income such as dividends or interest received while holding it.
How is capital gains yield different from total return?
Capital gains yield captures price appreciation alone. Total return adds income back in: Total return = Capital gains yield + Dividend yield, where dividend yield is dividends received per share divided by purchase price. Two stocks can have the same total return with very different capital gains yields if one pays higher dividends.
Why annualize the capital gains yield?
A raw capital gains yield does not account for how long you held the asset, so a 10% gain over 1 month and a 10% gain over 5 years are not comparable as-is. Annualizing with a compound growth formula, (P1/P0)^(12/months) − 1, converts any holding period into an equivalent yearly rate so returns can be compared on equal footing.
Can capital gains yield be negative?
Yes. If the current or selling price is lower than the purchase price, the numerator (P1 − P0) is negative, producing a negative capital gains yield — a capital loss on a percentage basis. Dividends received can still make the total return positive even when the capital gains yield is negative.

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