Investors are piling into dividend-paying stocks to cope with this year’s market volatility, reversing a trend since 2009 when income-generating equities lagged the market.

Stocks in the S&P High-Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index, or those companies in the S&P Composite 1500 that have increased their dividends every year for at least 20 years, are up about 2 percent this year including dividends, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. That’s better than the minus-4.3 percent total return for the S&P 500 index.

“Some of the better performers in the S&P 500 this year include companies paying annual dividends of about 4 percent or more as a proportion of their share price,” according to the newspaper. “Top gainers include telecommunications firm CenturyLink Inc., up nearly 20 percent, real-estate investment trust Realty Income Corp. , up about 14 percent, and electric utility Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., up almost 10 percent.”

Also driving the demand for dividend payers is the prospect that the Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates as much as was estimated in December, when the central bank timidly boosted rates for the first time in nine years. Meanwhile, European countries and Japan have embraced negative interest rates – effectively punishing financial institutions that park money at central banks.

“Investors that focus on total return, which is dividends paid and the increase in a stock’s price in a given period, are often more interested in companies that are consistently growing their dividends, as opposed to those that pay the highest dividends,” according to a report at 24/7 Wall Street. “Dividend growth usually means that a number of positive metrics are being met, and the company can consistently add to the pot of money that is returned to shareholders.”

Top 10 Dividend-Paying Stocks (Price Change YTD)

1. Questar (26.4 percent)
2. Black Hills (20.9 percent)
3. Mercury General (14.2 percent)
4. Realty Income (13.6 percent)
5. Nordson (11.9 percent)
6. Atmos Energy (11.3 percent)
7. National Retail Properties (9.8 percent)
8. Consolidated Edison (9.5 percent)
9. McCormick & Co. (9.3 percent)
10. Bemis Company (9.2 percent)

Source: The Wall Street Journal