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It's impossible not to know about Boeing Co. The company manufacturers pretty much any commercial airplane you have flown and is involved in defense, space & security manufacturing with the U.S. government and global services. But before March 2020, Boeing was dealing with some serious trouble with the grounding of certain aircraft due to safety issues.
Yet despite its recent losses — caused by costly repairs, canceled orders, and the coronavirus pandemic — the Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is beginning to pique the interest of investors on Wall Street. Individual shares of Boeing rose to $259.36 on April 5, 2021. Why? Because people are itching to travel!
After the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidelines to allow fully vaccinated people to travel within the U.S. without getting tested for COVID-19 or going into quarantine after their arrival, travel stocks soared. In fact, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screened 1,543,474 travelers on April 4, 2021, alone. According to CNBC, travel and leisure stocks including cruise lines, hotels, and several airlines (JetBlue, American, United, and Southwest, just to name a few) have skyrocketed within the past week.
If you’re interested in diversifying your portfolio to include a share (or a fraction of a share) of Boeing, here’s a quick how-to guide to get you started.
Step 1: Finding a broker that offers Boeing stock
If you’re a first-time investor looking to buy into industrial stocks like Boeing on the stock market, you’ll need to find a broker. Instead of using a traditional broker, who will most likely come with hefty fees, I recommend using an online brokerage. An online broker (sometimes referred to as a discount broker) will give you the power to invest your way — online trading allows hungry investors to buy, sell, and trade in real-time.
Unsure of how to find the best online brokerage for you and your financial goals? Here are three online platforms to consider.
Wealthfront
Wealthfront is another platform that offers investing, robo-investing, goal setting, banking, planning, and retirement accounts all in one place. New investors can open an account for as little as $1. The robo services, with auto rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting, require you to deposit $500 to begin. However, this doesn't allow you to select Boeing Stock.
To invest in the stocks of your choice, including Boeing, you will have to have $100,000 in your portfolio. As Wealthfront has retirement accounts, college savings plans and banking, your portfolio is all your accounts with the platform. Trades are free, but there is a 0.25% management fee charged on most accounts.
Pros and cons
Pros
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Auto rebalancing
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0.25% fee
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Daily tax-loss harvesting
Cons
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Limited access to some investment options if your portfolio is less than $100,000
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$500 minimum to start investing
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No fractional shares of stocks
Stash
For those who are low on cash or interested in purchasing fractional shares instead of full shares, Stash is a great option. Stash is a mobile-friendly investing platform that gives users the ability to invest in a variety of stocks for as little as $1 per month. In addition to a personal investment account, the beginner account also includes a bank account with a Stock-Back Card, $1,000 in life insurance from Avibra, and tons of educational resources to help users make sound financial decisions.
Users who’d like to add a retirement account to their membership can purchase a Growth account for $3 per month. The Growth account includes everything that the beginner plan includes, plus a retirement account. For $9 per month, members can upgrade to Stash+ which includes all of the features listed above and an investment account for two children, an additional $9,000 in life insurance, and monthly market insights.
There’s no minimum required to open an account and users who deposit $5 will receive another $5 (on the house) to invest. Similar to Robinhood and other investment apps, users can purchase a slice of the Boeing Company, in addition to several other companies, via fractional shares. To do this, Stash pools users’ funds together to make high-cost stocks more affordable by receiving a fraction of a stock and a fractional percentage on the returns.
Pros and cons
Pros
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Stash is user-friendly and affordable. New users can open a beginner account starting at $1.
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There’s no minimum deposit required to open an account. Plus, members who deposit $5 will receive an additional $5 on the house.
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Stash is great for users who want to buy fractional shares.
Cons
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Stash is not a robo-advisor. This means users are not provided with advice on which stocks to purchase. Instead, Stash is based on users’ goals.
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The ETFs available through Stash have a high expense ratio.
Reasons To Use Stash For Investing
- Get $5 to Make Your First Investment
- Invest in Stocks and ETFs with $1 or Less
- Receive Your Paycheck up to 2 Days Faster
- No Overdraft Fees or Minimum Balances
Robinhood
Robinhood, a free-trading mobile app, became popular when the whole GameStop debacle was going on (thanks to chatty Reddit users). Now, hundreds of aspiring investment moguls use Robinhood to invest on the go. In addition to allowing users to trade stocks, options, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Robinhood also offers cash management accounts and free cryptocurrency trading. The best part? There’s no account minimum and new users are given one free stock just for signing up.
Although mutual funds and bonds aren’t offered, Robinhood does give users the option to upgrade to a Gold account for $5 per month or $60 per year. This paid monthly subscription provides users with research from Morningstar, NASDAQ, and Nasdaq TotalView level II Market Data.
While Robinhood is known for its commission-free trading, other fees may apply:
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Robinhood charges a Trading Activity Fee (TAF) of $0.000119 per share (equity sells) and $0.002 per contract (options sells). This fee is rounded up to the nearest penny and maxes out at $5.95.
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There’s also a regulatory transaction fee of $5.10 per $1 million of principal (sells only). This fee cannot be avoided as it’s paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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Robinhood also charges American Depositary Receipt (ADR) Fees from $0.01-$0.03 per share when buying foreign stocks traded on American exchanges.
Robinhood is available for iOS and Android users and it’s free to open an account. To get started, users are required to enter their social security number, date of birth, citizenship status, mailing address, and bank account information. There’s also a web-based version of the app for those who prefer to work on a desktop.
Bonus: Robinhood sells fractional shares. This way, users who are unable to pay for a full share (or feasibly diversify their portfolio without going broke) can do so by buying a fraction of a stock. Robinhood offers fractional shares as small as 1/1,000,000 of a share. Within minutes, you could own a fraction of the Boeing Company for as little as $1!
Pros and cons
Pros
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Robinhood is easy to use and sign-up only takes a few minutes.
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There are no monthly fees or minimum account balances unless you choose to upgrade to a Gold account.
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With Robinhood, everyone can invest including industry newbies via fractional shares.
Cons
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Robinhood offers one type of account: a taxable brokerage account.
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The platform does not support mutual funds, preferred stocks, or offer retirement accounts.
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Robinhood doesn’t provide many educational tools/data to free users.
Step 2: Research Boeing shares
The Boeing Company was founded as the Aero Products Company by William E. Boeing in 1916 and was initially located in Seattle. (Boeing changed the name in 1917 to the Boeing Airplane Company.) The Boeing Airplane Company relocated to Chicago in 2001.
Before Boeing became the aerospace giant it is today, the company generated income through the U.S. military. Boeing built several military aircraft and other defense products in the 1920s and ‘30s. William E. Boeing envisioned his company as the future of aviation.
“We are embarked as pioneers upon a new science and industry in which our problems are so new and unusual that it behooves no one to dismiss any novel idea with the statement that ‘it can’t be done!'” Boeing said in a statement in 1928.
With the future in mind, Boeing began selling aircraft to deliver mail. Then, in 1931, the company transformed once again and created one large airline: United Airlines. Boeing also launched a few aircraft manufacturing companies, including Avion and Pratt & Whitney. And in 1958, the Boeing Company released the 707. When word got out that travelers could fly from New York to Los Angeles within a few hours, Boeing reached a new level in the industry.
Boeing also had a hand in creating air- and land-craft for NASA, starting with the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which was used on the Apollo space flights in the 1960s and ‘70s. The company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 2, 1962, at $0.8230 per share.
Boeing’s price history
Despite its two-year hardship, the Boeing company is a top-performing stock and celebrated a strong first quarter. The latest closing stock price for Boeing as of April 5, 2021, is $259.36.
If you invested $1,000 in the Boeing Company in 1962 it would have bought you about 1,215 shares. Boeing had eight stock splits between 1966 and 1997. Based on Boeing’s $259.36 share price at the close of business on April 5, 2021, that original $1,000 investment, with its eight stock splits, would give you more than 6,800 hundred shares and would now be worth more than $2.5 million. It is considered a blue-chip stock.
Boeing’s dividend information
The company paid dividends at the end of every quarter since going public in 1962 until 2020, when Boeing ceased paying dividends. Although Boeing Company does not currently pay a dividend but may reinstate payouts to shareholders in 2021. Boeing’s last dividend was $2.055 per common share, payable on March 6, 2020.
According to Reuters, Boeing decided to cancel CEO pay, suspend its dividend payments (March 20, 2020), and extend a pause on share buybacks in hopes of overcoming the financial destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic and two recent Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people.
“Boeing is drawing on all of its resources to sustain operations, support its workforce and customers, and maintain supply chain continuity through the COVID-19 crisis and for the long term,” the company said in a statement.
Best features of Boeing stock
Last year may have put us through the wringer, but 2021 is predicted to be the year for travel. This poses features for Boeing and the hope for profitability.
Both Southwest Airlines and United Airlines are placing orders for the new 737 MAX jets. Southwest agreed to add 100 planes to its fleet of 250 while United is buying an additional 25 planes. With more than 500 jet cancellations in 2020, these new orders have provided Boeing with a much-needed confidence boost.
Boeing’s defense line is also beginning to take a turn for the better. According to Zacks Equity Research, the Boeing Company recently closed on a $1.62 billion modification contract for manufacturing and delivering 11 P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The deal was awarded by the U.S. Navy. The contract is projected to be completed in September 2024.
In addition to new orders, Boeing has “revenge travel” on its side. The vaccine rollout has want-to-be travelers feeling optimistic and ready to get out and explore what the post-vax world has to offer. With a positive future now in view, Boeing and other travel and leisure companies are experiencing an uptick in stock prices.
Step 3: Open an account & buy Boeing shares
If you’re interested in buying Boeing shares, you can do so by opening an online brokerage account. To get you started, here’s a quick how-to guide on buying Boeing stock with Robinhood. The platform is known for its commission-free investing and user-friendly app.
Once you’ve figured out how much you’d like to invest, visit Robinhood.com. On the homepage, you should see a black button that reads “Sign Up.” Click on it. You’ll then be greeted with a screen that reads: “Your free stock referral from Robinhood is waiting for you.” To proceed, click “Claim your free stock now.”
After you click that bright green button, you’ll be taken to a page that asks you to provide some personal information, including your legal name, email, and a password to secure your account. Fill this in and click “Continue.” You’ll then be asked to add your date of birth, citizenship status, and social security number.
Next, you’ll be asked to answer a few questions about your experience as an investor. You’ll also need to provide your employment information and confirm whether or not you or a family member are a 10% shareholder of a publicly-traded company.
Once you’ve answered all of the questions, you’ll be asked to set up and fund your account. To do this, you can link your bank account and fund your Robinhood account immediately or you can choose to wait and fund it later on. Note: you won’t be able to invest until your account is funded.
After you’ve got your account all set up and funded, you’ll be able to purchase shares of the Boeing Company.
FAQs
How much were Boeing shares when the company first went public?
In 1962, Boeing shares traded for $0.8230 per share.
How much does it cost to buy Boeing shares today?
The latest closing stock price for Boeing as of April 5, 2021, is $259.36.
Does Boeing pay dividends?
The Boeing Company does not currently pay a dividend.
What is the minimum number of Boeing shares that I can buy?
You can buy one share or you can purchase a fractional share. Robinhood, for example, sells fractional shares as small as 1/1,000,000 of a share.
The bottom line
Whether you’re interested in purchasing a fraction of a share or a full share, you should give your financial situation a lookover beforehand. Investing in the stock market is risky and it experiences high volatility. Decide on how much you can invest without sacrificing your financial stability or comfort. Once you’ve figured out a safe and affordable number, you can move forward and invest.
Reasons To Use Stash For Investing
- Get $5 to Make Your First Investment
- Invest in Stocks and ETFs with $1 or Less
- Receive Your Paycheck up to 2 Days Faster
- No Overdraft Fees or Minimum Balances
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