Dividend per share

Dividend per share is the cash a company pays out to each individual share, the most direct way profit reaches a shareholder without needing to sell any stock.

The formula is: Total dividends paid / Shares outstanding.

Watching it over time shows whether a company is committed to steadily returning cash to shareholders, and whether that commitment grows alongside the business or simply holds steady. It's also the basis for dividend yield, which expresses the same cash payment as a percentage of the current share price rather than a flat dollar figure.