Shareholder yield is the sum of the following:
- Dividend yield +
- Percentage of Shares Repurchased
For example if a company trading at €50 and pays an annual dividend of €1, its dividend yield (DY) is 2%.
If same company had 1,000,000 shares outstanding at beginning of year and 900,000 at end of year, the company's share repurchased yield would be 10% ((1,000,000 – 900,000)/1,000,000).
If you add the two percentages together you get a Shareholder yield of 12%.
Note that the Shareholder Yield can also be negative as Percentage of Shares Repurchased can be negative if shares outstanding increases.
It can also be negative
Note that the Shareholder Yield can also be negative. This can happen as Percentage of Shares Repurchased can be negative if the number of shares issued increases.
How the buyback part is measured (updated August 2026)
We now measure share buybacks from the company's actual share count: the number of shares in issue today compared with the number twelve months ago. A fall in the count means the company bought shares back; a rise means it issued them. This replaces the older weighted-average share count, which could lag reality and overstate the yield.
Every buyback figure is cross-checked against a second, independent source, the cash the company reported spending on buybacks, net of new shares issued, in its cash-flow statement.
When the two sources disagree, or a figure is too extreme to trust automatically, we leave the cell blank rather than publish a number we cannot stand behind.
The whole calculation is refreshed every night, so a blank fills itself in as soon as the underlying data is corrected.
Worked example — Unilever (August 2026)
| Shares today | 2,154 million |
| Shares one year ago | 2,215 million |
| Buyback (from the share count) | +2.7% |
| Dividend yield | +2.2% |
| Shareholder Yield | 4.9% |
The buyback (+2.7%) plus the dividend yield (+2.2%) give a Shareholder Yield of 4.9%.
How to use the ratio
The larger the value the better - or the more cash the company returned to its shareholders.
Available as a screening ratio: Yes - the ratio is called Shareholder Yield
Available as an output column ratio: Yes - Look in the Valuation tab
How to select companies with the highest Shareholder Yield
To find companies with the best (highest) Shareholder Yield set the slider from 0% to 10%.
To find companies with the worse Shareholder Yield (companies issuing shares) set the slider from 90% to 100%.
More information about Shareholder Yield
You can read more information about Shareholder Yield here:
How and why to implement a shareholder yield investment strategy
How we find ideas for the Shareholder Yield investment newsletter
Best large cap investment strategy ever – Shareholder Yield keeps beating the market
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