6 Stocks Still Hiking Dividends in This Market

BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Dividend increases have been drying up in the last couple of months. With earnings season still almost a month away, it's been a sort of quiet period for corporate fundamentals, and dividends have been one of the casualties.

Although 2011 kicked off with a strong start to dividend hikes, volatile market conditions have meant that more stocks are sitting on the sidelines just in case the benefits of balance sheet liquidity suddenly spike up again.

But let's face it -- the S&P 500 is yielding just around 2.4% right now. The Dow is yielding just over 3%. With interest rates sitting at all-time lows, dividend payers aren't facing a whole lot of competition in attracting income investors. Until rates come back up, management teams are going to be hiking dividends because they want to, not because they have to.

Related: 6 Cash-Rich Stocks to Buy Before 2012

Still, whenever a firm does announce an increase in its dividend payout, it's worth listening.

Historically, dividend-payers have made a whole lot more money for investors than their nonpaying peers. Over the last 36 years, dividend stocks outperformed the rest of the S&P 500 by 2.5% annually, and they outperformed nonpayers by nearly 8% every year, all while paying out cash to their shareholders, according to data compiled by Ned Davis Research. The numbers are even more compelling when looking at companies that consistently increase their payouts.

Because increases were relatively rare in early September, today's list actually covers the previous three weeks instead of our typical look at last week's hikes.

With that, here's a look at our list of recent dividend-increasers.