Final answer:
The book value per common share at Hamilton Ltd. is not affected by the declaration or payment of preferred or common stock dividends or a 2-for-1 common stock split. These actions redistribute or reallocate existing equity but do not change the overall book value of the common shares.
Step-by-step explanation:
The book value per common share for Hamilton Ltd. is not affected by the declaration of a preferred stock dividend. This is because preferred dividends are distributed from net income and do not affect retained earnings allocated to common shares. Correspondingly, the book value of common shares remains intact. A common stock dividend declared when the market price equals the issue price also doesn't affect the book value per common share, as this involves a transfer from retained earnings to the dividend payable account, without altering the total equity. A 2-for-1 split of the common shares will change the number of outstanding shares but will not alter the overall book value; it essentially slices the pie into more pieces without changing the size of the pie. Lastly, the payment of a previously declared cash dividend on the common shares reduces retained earnings but does not alter the existing common shares' book value since the decrease is distributed across all shares equally.