Cognizant dividend history

Cognizant's dividend was $1.24 a share in fiscal 2025, up 3.3% on the year before. That was 27.4% of net income. It has raised its dividend per share every year since fiscal 2019.

Dividends, buybacks and capital spending

FY2026 Q3 TTM

Buybacks (TTM): $2.2B
Dividends (TTM): $616M
Returned to shareholders: 120%; of free cash flow
Buybacks, last 3 fiscal years: $3B
Diluted share count: −4.8%; year over year
Total shareholder yield: 9.7%; dividends 2.1% + buybacks 7.6% of market value
Dividend payout ratio: 24%; of net income paid out
Sales & admin spending: 14.5%; of revenue
Days sales outstanding: 81 days; receivables vs revenue

Dividends by fiscal year

US$ millions unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Cognizant: dividends by fiscal year, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Dividend per share	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	$0.450	—	$0.800	$0.880	$0.960	$1.08	$1.16	$1.20	$1.24	—
Dividend per share growth	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	+10.0%	+9.1%	+12.5%	+7.4%	+3.4%	+3.3%	—
Dividends paid	—	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	265	468	453	480	509	564	591	600	610	616
Share buybacks	16	59	374	521	179	248	460	512	1,889	1,261	2,247	1,621	771	1,422	1,064	605	1,378	2,215
Dividends ÷ net income	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0%	0.0%	17.6%	22.3%	24.6%	34.5%	23.8%	24.6%	27.8%	26.8%	27.4%	23.9%
Dividends ÷ free cash flow	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0%	0.0%	12.5%	21.1%	21.5%	16.5%	23.0%	25.2%	29.4%	32.8%	23.5%	26.1%

Dividend per share is the amount declared for the fiscal year as stated in the company's filings (including any special dividend), restated for stock splits and checked against the cash dividends paid. Dividends paid and buybacks are cash amounts; the last-twelve-months column can include an extra payment when a quarter-end date moves.

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Figures from Cognizant's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Cognizant.