Stock

A stock (also known as equity) is a security that represents the

ownership of a fraction of a corporation. This entitles the owner of the
stock to a proportion of the corporation's assets and profits equal to
how much stock they own. Units of stock are called "shares.“
Investopedia
Dividends
A dividend is the distribution of some of a company's earnings to a
class of its shareholders, as determined by the company's board of
directors.
A corporation’s board of directors will periodically evaluate the
business’s performance and decide how much money should be paid
out to its shareholders (this is known as declaring a dividend.)
The dividend payout ratio is the ratio of the total amount of dividends
paid out to shareholders relative to the net income of the company. It
is the percentage of earnings paid to shareholders via dividends. The
amount that is not paid to shareholders is retained by the company to
pay off debt or to reinvest in core operations. 
Zarofire Systems earned $743,000 in the last quarter, and the
company’s management has declared a dividend of $450,000. The
company has 1,000,000 shares of stock issued. If you own 200 shares of
the company’s stock, how much will you receive as a dividend?

The $450,000 total dividend must be distributed among the

shareholders based on the number of shares each one owns;
$450,000/1,000,000 shares works out to $0.45 per share. Since you
own 200 shares, you will receive
(200 shares)($0.45 per share) = $90.00.
Jason and Dave’s dry cleaning business is set up as a corporation. There
are 100 shares of stock; Jason owns 51 shares and Dave owns 49. In the
last quarter the business earned $39,750 in profits, and the company
declared a dividend of $35,000. How much will Jason and Dave each
get?

The $35,000 profit will be distributed based on the number of shares

each person owns;
$35,000/100 shares = $350 per share.
Since Jason owns 51 shares, he will receive
(51 shares) ($350 per share) = $17,850
Dividend Yields
The dividend yield is a financial
ratio that tells you the percentage of
a company's share price that it pays
out in dividends each year. 
The market price per share of Zarofire Systems is currently $49.75.
Calculate the stock’s dividend yield.

The company is currently paying $0.45 per share quarterly.

This works out to a rate of (4)($0.45) = $1.80 per year. As a percent of
the stock price, this works out to a dividend yield of
$1.80/$49.75 = 3.62%.
Dave believes that each share of stock in the dry cleaning business is
worth $8,000. Based on this estimate, what is the dividend yield?

$350 per quarter annualizes to $1,400 per year. So the dividend yield is
$1,400/$8,000 = 17.5%.
Capital Gains and Total Return
Profits due to the increase in value of an investment are called capital
gains. Historically, publicly traded stock prices have tended to rise on
average—though the performance of individual stocks varies wildly—
and a large percentage of the profits from stock market investments
have come from capital gains.
You bought shares of Zarofire Systems 7 years ago for $12.50 per share.
The current stock price is $50 per share. If you sell your stock today,
what compound annual growth rate will your capital gain represent?
Total Rate of Return
CAGR+ Average Dividend Yield = Total Rate of Return

The dividend yield rate on Zarofire Systems has been on average

around 3½% over the time you’ve owned it. What is the approximate
total rate of return you have received on this investment?

we find the total rate of return is approximately

21.90% + 3.50% = 25.40%.