Goldcorp Joins Gold Dividend Hike Brigade (GG, NEM)

Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) is chasing Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) with the wider ambition of being king of the dividends in the gold mining and production sector.  The company has raised its dividend by 32% this morning in an effort to generate additional returns for shareholders at a time where gold has risen handily from years past.

As far as the new versus the old, make the new annual payment at $0.54 from about $0.41 per share.  This is paid out monthly to generate that annual figure and the company said that it will revisit its payouts again in the future.

The new rate is back over 1% in yields now, which does not sound like much unless you consider that gold companies have historically paid almost nothing in dividends.  Newmont currently yields just over 2%.  The Vancouver-based Goldcorp has a market cap of $41 billion versus about $33 billion in market capitalization for Newmont.

So far there has been no impact over at Goldcorp and shares are indicated to open marginally lower.  At a close of $51.39 on Friday, the 52-week trading range is $39.04 to $56.31.

JON C. OGG