Common Shares
Common shares will often pay out a portion of the earnings as dividends. The dividend yield is the total dollars (Yen, etc.) paid in a year divided by the spot price of the shares. Most web sites and reports are updated with the expected future year's payments, not the past year's.
The price/earnings ratio quoted for common shares is the reciprocal of what is called the earnings yield. EarningsPerShare / SharePrice.
Read more about this topic: Yield (finance)
Famous quotes containing the words common and/or shares:
“Theodotus: Caesar: once in ten generations of men, the world gains an immortal book. Caesar: If it did not flatter mankind, the common executioner would burn it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“It is the sun that shares our works.
The moon shares nothing. It is a sea.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)