Herald staff

SEATTLE — Boeing will pay a bigger dividend to shareholders, and plans to further raise the value of its stock by buying back about 10 percent of it.

Boeing’s board of directors approved the moves on Monday.

"Our overall goal is to enhance shareholder value," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit said. "Our solid performance, strong backlog and robust cash flow create these two excellent opportunities to return value to all our shareholders while investing to grow profitably in the future."

The company will pay a fourth-quarter dividend of 17 cents a share, which is a 21 percent increase over the previous quarterly dividend of 14 cents a share.

The payment will be made March 2 to all shareholders of record as of Feb. 9.

The company also will begin buying back some 85 million shares, Condit announced.

The shares will either be bought on the open market or in privately negotiated deals, he said.

Buying back shares can boost stock prices by limiting the number of shares available on the market. It also helps companies boost their earnings per share.

Boeing is now completing a 146 million-share stock buy-back program that began in August 1998.