The Dividend Payout Ratio refers to dividends paid to shareholders as a percentage of the net income or Earnings Per Share (EPS) of a company. The formula to calculate dividend payout ratio is:
DPR = Dividend / Net income
or
DPR = Dividend / Earnings Per Share
A higher dividend payout ratio means that a company is redistributing a chunk of its profits to shareholders, which generally implies that the company is well-established.