The Monarch Corporation has just expanded to include the Umbrella Corporation. Combined, these two companies now have $102M in preferred stock, $85M in book value of common stock, and $120M in debt selling at 96.7%. The common stock has a market to book ratio of 1.75, a yield to maturity on its debt of 5.4%, and a return on its preferred stock of 9.45%. The company is sitting in the 18% tax bracket, has a beta of 1.25 on its common stock, the market return is 15% and the risk free rate is 3.24%. What is the Cost of Equity?

19.15%

20.38%

17.94%

16.5%