Rankin Pharmaceutical Company maintains a debt-equity ratio of 0.65 and has a tax rate of 32 percent. The firm does not issue preferred stock. The pre-tax cost of debt is 9.8 percent. There are 25,000 shares of stock outstanding with a beta of 1.2 and a market price of $19 a share. The current market risk premium is 8.5 percent and the current risk-free rate is 3.6 percent. This year, the firm paid an annual dividend of $1.10 a share and expects to increase that amount by 2 percent each year. Using an average expected cost of equity, what is the weighted average cost of capital?

A. 8.44 percent

B. 8.78percent

C. 8.96percent

D. 9.13percent

E. 9.20percent