Boeing Co.’s (NYSE: BA) share price added about 2.1% this past week to keep a firm grip on its position as the best performing stock among the 30 that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Shares gained $5.50 last week to boost the year-to-date gain to more than 74%.
Of the three other stocks closest to Boeing’s yearly gain, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) rose by about 3% to a gain of nearly 53%, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) dropped more than 2% to close the week up about 48% for the year to date and McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) tacked on 2.2% to bring its annual gain to 42%.
For the month of November, Boeing stock added about $13.00, a gain of 5%. The Dow’s big gainer last month was Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), up nearly 11% after posting solid earnings and raising fourth-quarter and full-year guidance.
Boeing’s week was relatively quiet compared to the flurry of activity and big orders that flowed from the Dubai Air Show. As of November 28, Boeing reports that it has taken 662 net new orders in 2017. The 737 family accounts for 505 of those orders, and the 787 family chalks up 88 orders for the year to date.
The coming week could be another quiet one ahead of the company’s board of directors meeting on December 11. Analysts at Wells Fargo Securities have predicted that Boeing will announce a dividend increase of 10% to 15% following the meeting.
Boeing raised its dividend last December to its current level of $1.42 ($5.68 annualized). That was a 30% jump over the prior year’s rate, and it could be that Wells Fargo is being conservative about an increase for the coming year.
The dividend yield on Boeing stock at Friday’s closing price is 2.11%. Not exactly a stunning number, but when the share price appreciation is added in, the return to shareholders over the past 12 months is around 76%, not including share buybacks.
Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr put a 12-month price target of $320 a share on Boeing for a potential upside of nearly 18%. Even if Boeing doesn’t boost its dividend, that’s still a 20% return on the stock in a year. Not bad.
Boeing stock closed at $271.38 on Friday, down nearly 2% on the day, in a 52-week range of $150.02 to $278.73. The high was posted Friday morning. The 12-month consensus price target is $285.21, some $4.17 higher than last week’s target. The low price target is $203 and the high is $350.
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