Southern Copper Corporation (SCCO) will increase its quarterly dividend by 20 percent to 60 cents per share in the first quarter of 2021.

In het previous quarter the copper producer hiked its dividend by another 25.0 percent to 50 cents per share, after it had doubled its quarterly dividend to 40 cents per share earlier in 2020.

However, this came after a cut of 50.0 percent in the quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share announced in April 2020. The copper producer also reduced its dividend in 2015, 2013 and 2012.

The next dividend will be paid on February 24, 2021 to shareholders of record on February 10, 2021. A new annual dividend rate of $2.40 per share yields 3.4% based at a stock price of $71. Southern Copper Corporation will now pay an estimated $1.855 billion annually in dividends to its shareholders. 

Southern Copper Corporation is an integrated copper producer. It produces copper and, in the production process, obtains several by-products, including molybdenum, silver, zinc, sulfuric acid and other metals. The company has operations in Peru and Mexico. The Peruvian operations segment includes the Toquepala and Cuajone mine complexes, and the smelting and refining plants, including a metals plant industrial railroad and port facilities that service both mines. The Mexican open-pit operations segment includes the La Caridad and Buenavista mine complexes, and the smelting and refining plants, including a metals plant and a copper rod plant, and support facilities that service both mines. Southern Copper Corporation has paid a dividend to shareholders every year since at least 1996.