The Bell Weather Co. is a new firm in a rapidly growing industry. The company is planning on increasing its annual dividend by 17 percent a year for the next 4 years and then decreasing the growth rate to 6 percent per year. The company just paid its annual dividend in the amount of $2.40 per share. What is the current value of one share of this stock if the required rate of return is 7.90 percent?

$196.91

Explanation:

The computation of the current value is shown below:

D1 = ($2.4 × 1.17) = 2.808

D2 = ($2.808 × 1.17) = 3.28536

D3 = (3.28536 × 1.17) = 3.8438712

D4 = (3.8438712 × 1.17) = 4.4973293

Now

Value after year 4 is

= (D4 × Growth rate) ÷ (Required return - Growth rate)

= (4.4973293 × 1.06) ÷ (0.079 - 0.06)

= 250.903635

Now the current value is

= Future dividend and value × Present value of discounting factor

=$2.808  ÷ 1.079 + 3.28536 ÷ 1.079^2 + 3.8438712 ÷ 1.079^3 + 4.4973293 ÷ 1.079^4 + 250.903635 ÷ 1.079^4

= $196.91