S&P and Moody's assigned Ford a non-investment grade rating in 2005.
Ford had said it wouldn't pay a dividend until it returned to investment-grade ratings. That position changed in October.
"Our shareholders have been very patient," Booth said Oct. 20 on a conference call about the labor agreement.
Concerns about Europe's debt crisis and slow economic growth have weighed on the automaker's shares.
"I want the stock to double over the next two or three years," said Gary Bradshaw, a fund manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, which owns about 250,000 Ford shares. "That's how we'll make our money on Ford. The dividend is secondary."