The Hastings Sugar Corporation has the following pattern of netincome each year, and associated capital expenditure projects. Thefirm can earn a higher return on the projects than the stockholderscould earn if the funds were paid out in the form of dividends.
| Year | Net Income | Profitable Capital
Expenditure |
| 1 | $ | 12 | million | $ | 8 | million |
| 2 | | 19 | million | | 11 | million |
| 3 | | 15 | million | | 7 | million |
| 4 | | 18 | million | | 8 | million |
| 5 | | 18 | million | | 8 | million |
|
The Hastings Corporation has 3 million shares outstanding. (Thefollowing questions are separate from each other).
a. If the marginal principle of retainedearnings is applied, how much in total cash dividends will be paidover the five years? (Enter your answer inmillions.)
b. If the firm simply uses a payout ratio of 20percent of net income, how much in total cash dividends will bepaid? (Enter your answer in millions and round your answerto 1 decimal place.)
c. If the firm pays a 20 percent stock dividendin years 2 through 5, and also pays a cash dividend of $3.40 pershare for each of the five years, how much in total dividends willbe paid?
d. Assume the payout ratio in each year is tobe 40 percent of the net income and the firm will pay a 30 percentstock dividend in years 2 through 5, how much will dividends pershare for each year be? (Assume the cash dividend is paid after thestock dividend.) (Round your answers to 2 decimalplaces.)
