LAUREL, Miss. – Sanderson Farms, Inc. declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.17 per share payable Oct. 16, 2012, to stockholders of record on Oct. 2, 2012.

Higher market prices and higher sales contributed to the company's third-quarter earnings and returned the company to profitability.

For the quarter ended July 31, the company had income of $28,721,000, equal to $1.25 per share on the common stock, which compared with a loss of $55,683,000 during the same quarter of the previous year. Sales for the quarter were $624,854,000, up 22 percent from $511,169,000.

For the nine months ended July 31, the company had income of $44,597,000, or $1.94 per share, which compared with a loss of $105,515,000 during the same period of the previous year. Sales for the nine months were $1,737,726,000, up 23 percent from $1,418,243,000.