Flush with strong cash flow, Boeing [BA] on Monday said it is increasing its shareholder dividend and replacing its stock repurchase program with a larger one.
The new quarterly dividend will be $1.71 per share, a 20 percent increase over the current level, and will be payable in March 2018. Boeing said it has raised its dividend more than 250 percent over the past five years.
The new $18 billion share repurchase authorization replaces a $14 billion program approved in December 2016, of which Boeing has repurchased $9.2 billion of its shares. The company expects repurchases under the new authorization to occur over the next 24 to 30 months.
“Boeing’s strong and growing cash flow allows us to deepen our commitment to provide competitive returns to our shareholders, while continuing to invest in our people, innovation and growth,” Dennis Muilenburg, chairman, president and CEO of Boeing, said in a statement. “To support our balanced cash deployment strategy, our team remains focused on improving operating performance as we deliver on our substantial order backlog and work to capture a larger share of the growing aerospace market.”
In October, Boeing said it expects operating cash flow this year of around $12.5 billion before investments in property, plant and equipment.