How is dividend to shareholder calculated?

There are three important ways dividends paid by companies are usually declared. Dividend Percentage is relevant for calculating how much you will receive in your hands. But that doesn't tell you which a better dividend paying share is. For that Dividend Payout and Dividend Yield are more relevant. Unfortunately in the media and company reports, you will usually see only Dividend percentage getting reported :-)

1. Dividend percentage - relates to face value of the share. so for e.g. Marico declared a dividend of 37%. Marico shares face value is 1. So for 100 shares, you would get Rs.37
2. Dividend Payout = Dividend per share/Earnings per shareHere you get an idea of how much the company is paying you back as dividends from Net profits; and how much it is retaining for use in the business. A steadily increasing or maintaining dividend payout ratio over the years is a godd indicator of a good share -a company that is shareholder friendly
3. Dividend Yield - = Dividend per share/Price per shareThis is by far the most useful of the dividend measurements. This tells you for every Rs. 100 invested, how many Rs are you likely getting back as dividend (usually good stable companies maintain the dividend payout ratios). E.g there are companies liek Abuja Cement, Grind well Norton or Wyeth Pharma if you buy at to days price, you are likely to get a dividend of approx. Rs. 6 back for every Rs. 100 invested. Remember this is tax free and compares very favorably with FD rates which are taxable!!
So look at all three ratios before you fix on a share for the quality of its dividends. Even a 400% dividend may mean only Rs 4 per share, if the face value is Rs1, but the market value can be anything