Boeing Reveals New $10 Bln. Share Buyback Plan, Boosts Dividend By 50%

(RTTNews) - Boeing Co. (BA), Monday announced a new $10 billion stock buyback plan and boosted its dividend by about 50 percent, as the world's largest plane maker seeks to bolster its stock price and as well return cash to its investors.

The $10 billion repurchase program approved is in addition to the approximately 800 million remaining from 2007 stock buyback plan, Boeing said in a statement. The share repurchases will be made over the next two to three years, starting from next year.

Chief Executive James McNerney said, "These actions reflect sustained, strong operational performance by our businesses, increasing cash flow, and our confidence in the future. Our team's relentless focus on business execution and competitiveness is providing the financial strength to continue investing in our core businesses while increasing our returns to shareholders."

The company also increased its quarterly dividend by about 50 percent to $0.73 per share. The dividend is payable on March 7, 2014, to shareholders of record as of February 14, 2014.

"Our balanced cash deployment strategy provides increased dividends and share repurchase authorization to deliver consistent returns to our shareholders while maintaining investment in productivity and innovation for future growth," said CFO Greg Smith.

Chicago, Illinois-based Boeing had reported 12 percent increase in profit for the the third quarter driven largely by higher revenues and stronger margins reflecting commercial aircraft deliveries.

BA closed Monday's trading at $134.72, up $0.89 or 0.67%, on the NYSE. The stock further gained $2.08 or 1.54%, in after-hours trade.