The Dividend Calendar with Payout Ratio
More important than a predictable and steadily increasing dividend is the question: how sustainable is the dividend financed? The dividend calendar dynamically displays the payout ratio year by year. The payout ratio defines how much percent of the free profit the company pays out as dividend. Healthy dividend stocks pay out between 25% and 75% of the profit as a dividend. With less than 25%, you often have too low a dividend yield. With more than 75% profit distribution, it is questionable what happens if the profits collapse by more than 25% in a crisis. Then the company would have to pay out more dividend than it earns profits — a long-term unsustainable strategy.