Friday's Winners & Losers

Updated from 2:35 p.m. EDT

American Woodmark (AMWD Quote) rose 8.2% to close at $30.06 after the company set plans to buy back stock and boosted its quarterly dividend.

The Winchester, Va., maker of kitchen and bath cabinets said its board has authorized a new $100 million stock repurchase program. The previous $50 million program announced in November 2006 has nearly been completed.

In addition, the company decided to increase its dividend by 50% to 9 cents a share from the previous 6 cents.

Kellwood's (KWD Quote) Phat Fashions division signed a deal with Longstreet Industries, a division of Stretch-O-Rama, to design and market sportswear and outerwear under the Phat Farm and XV brand names. Kellwood also said Russell Simmons has stepped down as Phat Fashions CEO.

Shares of St. Louis-based Kellwood, a clothing marketer, rose 1.4% to close at $20.82.

Pittsburgh foodmaker H.J. Heinz (HNZ Quote) traded actively after offering optimistic projections for the full year.

The company's first-quarter earnings grew 8.6% from last year to 63 cents a share, and sales increased 9.1% to $2.25 billion.

For the fiscal year, Heinz expects its earnings to be near the top of its previously announced range of $2.54 to $2.60 a share. Shares of Heinz were down 0.4% earlier in the day but closed up 0.5%, or 21 cents, at $45.43.

Packaging producer MeadWestvaco (MWV Quote) reached a deal to sell 62,000 acres of forestland in West Virginia for $93.1 million to a unit of Penn Virginia Resource Partners (PVR Quote).

MeadWestvaco, of Glen Allen, Va., expects to complete the transaction in the third quarter of this year. Its shares slipped earlier in the day but closed up 0.6% to $31.73.