求教！prep语法笔记183

Despite recent increasesin sales and cash flow that have propelled automobile companies' common stocks to new highs,several industry analysts expect automakers, in order to conserve cash, toset dividends more conservatively than they were
A. to set dividends more conservatively than they were
B. to set dividends more conservatively than they have been
C. to be more conservative than they have been in settingdividends
D. that they will be more conservative than they were in setting dividends

E. that they will be more conservative than they have been to set dividends

我明白D是因为expect sb that的搭配有错，但是C为什么用了have been呢？
另外，如果题目改写成several industry analysts expect that automakers will be more conservative than they were in setting dividends, in order to conserve cash是否正确呢？？