Updating BOEING CO., GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. and GENUINE PARTS CO.

Article Excerpt

BOEING CO. $135 (www.boeing.com) is seeing stronger demand for its passenger planes as airlines upgrade their aging fleets with more efficient models. As a result, it has increased its dividend by 50.5%. The new annual rate of $2.92 a share yields 2.2%. Boeing also plans to buy back $10 billion worth of its shares, or about 10% of the total outstanding, over the next three years. Buy. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. $27 (www.ge.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 15.8%, to $0.22 a share from $0.19. The new annual rate of $0.88 yields 3.3%. Buy. GENUINE PARTS CO. $82 (www.genpt.com) is buying Edmontonbased Commercial Solutions Inc. This firm distributes industrial products, such as bearings and transmission parts, across Canada. Genuine Parts didn’t say how much it would pay when it completes this purchase in the first quarter of 2014, but the deal will add $100 million to its annual revenue of $13.7 billion. Hold. Hold…