Payout Ratio

What Does Payout Ratio Mean?
The amount of earnings paid out in dividends to shareholders. Investors can use the payout ratio to determine what companies are doing with their earnings.

Calculated as:

 

Investopedia explains Payout Ratio
For example, a very low payout ratio indicates that a company is primarily focused on retaining its earnings rather than paying out dividends.

The payout ratio also indicates how well earnings support the dividend payments: the lower the ratio, the more secure the dividend because smaller dividends are easier to pay out than larger dividends.