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Northwest Utility Company faces increasing needs for capital. Fortunately, it has an Aa3 credit rating. The corporate tax rate is 40 percent. Northwests treasurer is

Northwest Utility Company faces increasing needs for capital. Fortunately, it has an Aa3 credit rating. The corporate tax rate is 40 percent. Northwests treasurer is trying to determine the corporations current weighted average cost of capital in order to assess the profitability of capital budgeting projects.

Historically, the corporations earnings and dividends per share have increased about 10.3 percent annually and this should continue in the future. Northwests common stock is selling at $82 per share, and the company will pay a $4.40 per share dividend (D1).

The companys $132 preferred stock has been yielding 7 percent in the current market. Flotation costs for the company have been estimated by its investment banker to be $4.00 for preferred stock.

The companys optimum capital structure is 35 percent debt, 25 percent preferred stock, and 40 percent common equity in the form of retained earnings. Refer to the table below on bond issues for comparative yields on bonds of equal risk to Northwest.

Data on Bond Issues
Issue Moodys rating Price Yield to maturity
Utilities:
Southwest electric power71/4 2023 Aa2 $ 985.18 8.54 %
Pacific bell73/8 2025 Aa3 909.25 8.83
Pennsylvania power & light81/2 2022 A2 980.66 8.77
Industrials:
Johnson & Johnson63/4 2023 Aaa 890.24 8.88 %
Dillards Department Stores71/8 2023 A2 960.92 8.33
Marriott Corp.10 2015 B2 1,125.10 9.88

(a)

Compute the cost of debt, Kd (use the accompanying tablerelate to the utility bond credit rating for yield.) (Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your response.)

Cost of debt %

(b)

Compute the cost of preferred stock, Kp. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your response.)

Cost of preferred stock %

(c)

Compute the cost of common equity in the form of retained earnings, Ke. (Round your answer to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your response.)

Cost of common equity %

(d)

Compute the weighted average cost of capital. (Round your intermediate and final answers to 2 decimal places. Omit the "%" sign in your response.)

Weighted cost
Debt (Kd) %
Preferred stock (Kp)
Common equity (Ke)
Weighted average cost of capital (Ka) %

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