In finance, yield is typically a measure of the amount of cash that a security produces for its owner. However, the term is often used to refer to different mathematical formulas in different situations. According to Investopedia, yield is:
The income return on an investment. This refers to the interest or dividends received from a security and is usually expressed annually as a percentage based on the investment’s cost, its current market value or its face value.
In PortfolioCenter, the “yield” for a security is the number that results from dividing the annual dividends paid from the security by price. Depending on which price you use, you get a different yield calculation, and you’ll see a different column heading on the reports. For example, “Current Yield” uses the current price while “Yield at Purchase” uses the purchase price.
What if the numbers in PortfolioCenter don’t match? For example what if “Current Yield” on the Portfolio Statement does not equal the “Current Yield” on the Yield Analysis?
- First, check the obvious — but also the most common — reasons: Are you looking at the same security for the same client as of the same date?
- Next, check rounding discrepancies. Make sure the columns on the two reports are formatted with the same number of decimals. Often ‘differences’ result from rounding different ways.
- Finally, check your data. PortfolioCenter takes the amount per share (a number used in the yield calculation formula) from the last income transaction. However, PortfolioCenter does not necessarily update the amount per share every time you post a transaction which affects it.
This situation can happen with back-dated trades. For example, a buy or sell with a trade date before the last income may arrive in the downloads and thus get posted after the last income transaction. In this scenario PortfolioCenter does not automatically update the amount per share. But you can force it to update by cancelling and reposting the last income transaction.
- If you’re still having problems, review the settings of the security in question. Make sure “Allow Updates” is checked and the “Payment Frequency” is correct. After correcting the settings, cancel and repost the last income transaction.