what is yield 
the yield of a stock bond or other asset is the amount of money its investors are paid an investment s yield includes the interest it earns or the dividends paid to investors yield is expressed as a percentage based on the invested amount the current market value or the face value of the security for example microsoft corp msft announced on march 12 2024 that it would pay a quarterly dividend of 0 75 cents per share on june 13 2024 that means the stock s yield is 0 75 owners of the stock s shares will be paid 73 cents for every 100 shares they own 1note that dividend yield is not the same as total return which reflects any increase in the market value of the asset as well as the dividend payment if an owner receives the microsoft dividend on june 13 and sells the shares the next day the total return or the investor s total yield for microsoft stock would include any increase in the value of the stock as well as the dividend payment investopedia ellen lindnerformula for yieldyield is a measure of the profit that an investor will be paid for investing in a stock or a bond it is usually computed on an annual basis although it may be paid quarterly or monthly the gross yield is the return on the investment before taxes or other expenses yield or net yield should not be confused with total return which is a more comprehensive measure of return on investment net yield is calculated as for example the gains and returns on stock investments can come in two forms first it can reflect a price increase such as occurs when an investor purchases a stock at 100 per share and after a year sells it for 120 second the stock may pay a dividend say 2 per share during the year the yield would be the appreciation in the share price plus any dividends paid divided by the original price of the stock the yield for the example would be 