1. The dividend payout ratio indicates the amount of dividends paid relative to the company's earnings.

2. A firm's dividend policy includes two basic components:the dividend payout ratio and the stability of the dividends over time.

3. Given this measure, dividends per share are determined by where is the target dividend payout ratio.

4. Thus, even a "stopped clock" can look like a growth stock if the dividend payout ratio is low.

5. From our reasech, we notice the ownership structure has great impact on dividends policy of listed companies. The dividend payout ratio is lower in state-owned-enterprise than non-SOEs.

6. The empirical results show that the dividend per share and the average dividend payout ratio of those MBO companies whose managers hold plenty of shares also have an obvious upgrade in 2005.