Parsons, Inc. Is a Publicly Owned Company. the Following Information Is Excerpted From

Parsons, Inc. is a publicly owned company. The following information is excerpted from a recent balance sheet. Dollar amounts (except for per share amounts) are stated in thousands. Stockholders equity: Convertible $17.20 preferred stock, $250 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized;345,000 shares issued outstanding..$86,250 Common stock, par value $0.50; 25,000,000 shares authorized..6,819 Additional paid-in capital..57,260 Retained earnings..57,263 Total Stockholders' equity..$237,592 A.How many shares of common stock have been issued? B.What is the total amount of the annual dividends paid to preferred stockholders? C.What is the total amount of paid in capital? D.What is the book value per share of common stock? E. Explain pros/cons of Parsons being publicly owned rather than closely held. F.What is meant by the term convertible used in the caption of preferred stock? Is there any more info investrs need to eval this conversion feature? G.Assume the pref stock is selling at $248

e. / The basic advantage of being publicly owned is that the corporation has the opportunity to raise large amounts of equity capital from many investors. Some publicly owned corporations have millions of stockholders, including pension funds, mutual funds, and other corporations. Closely held corporations are usually unable to raise the large amounts of capital available to publicly owned corporations.
A major advantage to the stockholders of a publicly owned corporation is that their equity investments are highly liquid assets, immediately salable at quoted market prices.
The primary disadvantages of being publicly owned are the increased governmental regulations and financial reporting requirements.
f. / The term convertible means that at the option of the preferred stockholder, each preferred share can be converted into a specified number of common shares. To evaluate the value of this conversion feature, the stockholder must know into how many shares of common each preferred share can be converted. This information is disclosed in the notes accompanying the corporation’s financial statements.
g. / At $248 per share, Parsons’s preferred has a dividend yield of 6.9% ($17.20 ¸ $248). In comparison, an 8%, $50 par preferred selling at $57 has a dividend yield of 7% [(8% ´ $50 par) ¸ $57].
The dividend yield on preferred stock indicates how much investors value certain features of the stock. The lower the yield, the more investors favor the stock. A higher yield means that investors demand a higher return to induce them to purchase the stock.
The two principal factors that cause one preferred to yield less than another are: (1) the appearance of greater ability to pay the preferred dividends each year, and (2) special features that appeal to investors, such as Parsons’s conversion feature, cumulative dividends, or a high call price.