Question

The last five annual dividends for MysteryCorp have been: $1.25, $1.38, $1.49, $1.60, and $1.69. Next year's dividend is expected to be $2. The current stock price is $199 per share. First, calculate the geometric average annual rate of growth based on the historical dividends (taking into account the previous five -- do *not* include next year's expected dividend in this calculation). Your estimate of RE, the cost of equity, is ________%.

Answer 1

Answer:

Re = 8.79%

Explanation:

annual growth rates:

($1.38 - $1.25) / $1.25 = 0.104

($1.49 - $1.38) / $1.38 = 0.078

($1.60 - $1.49) / $1.49 = 0.074

($1.69 - $1.60) / $1.60 = 0.056

geometric growth rate = ⁴√(1.104 x 1.078 x 1.074 x 1.056) - 1 = ⁴√1.34976 - 1 = 1.0779 - 1 = 0.0779 = 7.79%

P₀ = Div₁ / (Re - g)

$199 = $2 / (Re - 0.0779)

Re - 0.0779 = $2 / $199 = 0.01

Re = 0.01 + 0.0779 = 0.0879 = 8.79%