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McDonald's dividend history

McDonald's's dividend was $7.17 a share in fiscal 2025, up 5.8% on the year before. That was 59.7% of net income. It has raised its dividend per share every year since fiscal 2009, as far back as our figures go.

Dividends, buybacks and capital spending

FY2026 Q2 TTM
Buybacks (TTM)
$2.3B
Dividends (TTM)
$5.2B
Returned to shareholders
97%
of free cash flow
Buybacks, last 3 fiscal years
$7.9B
Diluted share count
−0.7%
year over year
Total shareholder yield
4.0%
dividends 2.8% + buybacks 1.2% of market value
Dividend payout ratio
60%
of net income paid out
Sales & admin spending
11.7%
of revenue

Dividends by fiscal year

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

Fiscal year2009Dec 20092010Dec 20102011Dec 20112012Dec 20122013Dec 20132014Dec 20142015Dec 20152016Dec 20162017Dec 20172018Dec 20182019Dec 20192020Dec 20202021Dec 20212022Dec 20222023Dec 20232024Dec 20242025Dec 2025LTMJun 2026
Dividend per share$2.05$2.26$2.53$2.87$3.12$3.28$3.44$3.61$3.83$4.19$4.73$5.04$5.25$5.66$6.23$6.78$7.17—
Dividend per share growth—+10.2%+11.9%+13.4%+8.7%+5.1%+4.9%+4.9%+6.1%+9.4%+12.9%+6.6%+4.2%+7.8%+10.1%+8.8%+5.8%—
Dividends paid2.22.42.62.93.13.23.23.13.13.33.63.83.94.24.54.95.15.2
Share buybacks2.82.73.42.61.83.26.111.24.75.25.00.90.83.93.12.82.12.3
Dividends ÷ net income49.1%48.7%47.4%53.0%55.8%67.6%71.3%65.3%59.5%55.0%59.4%79.3%51.9%67.5%53.5%59.2%59.7%59.5%
Dividends ÷ free cash flow58.8%57.3%59.0%74.0%72.5%77.6%68.4%72.2%83.5%77.1%62.5%81.2%55.2%75.9%62.5%73.0%71.2%67.3%

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.

Compare with peers

Head to head: MCD vs SBUXARMK vs MCDDRI vs MCD

More: Restaurants stocks compared, Consumer Discretionary sector, rankings of US companies

Figures from McDonald's's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 20, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to McDonald's.