How does price earnings (P/E) ratio affect the dividend policy of a business?

 

Every business set up for the purpose of making profit is primarily interested in reaching and maintaining a high level of performance where revenue exceeds expenses.  It measures its performance in terms of of the price of its shares, dividends and number of issued shares.

A business's dividend policy including the stability of the policy, is tied to the business's earned profits, cash flows, prospects of growth and the preferences of shareholders or investors.

Shareholders or investors considering investment options would assess dividend policies and results of shareholder or investor ratios (especially the price earnings ratio) of available businesses before making an investment decision..

The dividend policy indicates the proportion of earned profits a business is willing to pay out and the regularity at which dividends are paid out. 

Now note, when a company is not making stable profits, their shares will not yield regular dividends. 

What is the price earnings (P/E) ratio?

The price earnings ratio is an investor or stock market ratio that compares the market price of the shares to the earnings per share. This is calculated thus;

Market price/earnings per share.

Earnings per share (EPS) shows the proportion of a business's profit attributable (after deducting tax, minority interest and preference dividends but before considering extra ordinary items) to each common stock (or share) or attributable to issued number of common stock ranking for dividend. 

What is a good price earnings (P/E) ration?

There's no fixed rule for determining a good price earnings ratio. Generally, the lower the P/E ratio, the better. Why is it better? Because as the P/E ratio falls,  the dividend payout ratio is also lowered.

A lower dividend payout ratio is an indication that a business can pay regular dividends as it would have more retained profits to expand and grow. Dividend investors like a lower payout ratio.

The dividend payout ratio is calculated thus;

 Annual dividend per share/ earnings per share (EPS)