The last few years have been volatile for the Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price.
The stock soared 48% between April 2018 and January 2020 before plummeting 65% in the months following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it's since rebounded, it's still trading below its previous highs.
The Santos share price has gained close to 20% over the last five years.
Indeed, a $,6,000 investment in the energy commodity producer in April 2018 likely would have seen one with 1,000 shares, having paid $6 apiece.
That parcel would be worth $7,180 today. The Santos share price last closed at $7.18.
For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has gained 25% in that time.
But have the dividends offered by Santos over the last five years made up for the stock's slightly sluggish performance? Let's take a look.
All dividends paid to those holding Santos shares since 2018
Here are all the dividends offered to those invested in the ASX 200 energy giant since April 2018, rounded to the nearest tenth of a cent:
| Santos dividends' pay date | Type | Dividend amount |
| March 2023 | Final | 22.4 cents |
| September 2022 | Interim | 10.9 cents |
| March 2022 | Final | 11.8 cents |
| September 2021 | Interim | 7.7 cents |
| March 2021 | Final | 6.3 cents |
| September 2020 | Interim | 2.9 cents |
| March 2020 | Final | 7.6 cents |
| September 2019 | Interim | 8.9 cents |
| March 2019 | Final | 8.6 cents |
| September 2018 | Interim | 4.8 cents |
| Total: | 91.9 cents |
As the chart above shows, each Santos share has yielded around 91.9 cents of dividend income since April 2018.
That means our figurative parcel likely would have brought it $919 of passive income over its life.
At that rate, our total return on investment (ROI), considering both capital gains and dividends, comes to approximately 35%.
That may have been bolstered if an investor had compounded their dividends by reinvesting them in the company's stock.
Not to mention, most of Santos' dividends in that time have been franked, meaning they might have brought additional benefits at tax time.
Right now, Santos shares are trading with a 4.6% dividend yield.
