Answer:
C) management believes earnings growth will be strong going forward.
Explanation:
Dividend is the percentage of income that the corporation aims to allocate to the company's shareholders. When there is an rise in dividend it means that the company will have good results for the future. The rise in the dividend is a prediction of future profitability for the firm.
Plus it would be distributed to the preferred shareholders and the equity shareholders and the preference is given first to preferred shareholders