There has been a 10.2% increase in the number of domestic small-cap companies (in the S&P 600 index) paying dividends, since the end of 2013. For the 20-year period ended Dec. 31, 2014, the number of S&P 600 companies paying a dividend is up 22.3%.
According to research released Wednesday, 324 companies in the index pay regular dividends. Those dividend payers have a yield of 2.24%, compared to the yield of the overall index of 1.34%.
By sector, telecom firms are the highest-yielding small-cap payers (four companies yielding 4.57%), followed by utilities (12 firms yielding 3.45%) and financials (109 companies yielding 3.13%).
