Top 10 Dividend Yielding U.S. Utilities

We have comprised a list of the top ten dividend yielding US utilities with market caps of at least $4.0 billion. They include Electric, Natural Gas and Diversified Utilities ranging in size from $4.5 billion in market cap to over $20 billion. The lowest dividend yield listed is 4.97% from the mammoth utility, Southern Company (SO). While the highest yield is 6.14% from First Energy (FE) soon to be First Energy and Allegheny Energy (AYE) combined as their merger announcement in February informed the world. With a soon to be $14 billion plus market capitalization the combined utility will be one of the largest in the US.. The return on equity (ROE) for these companies is solid with an average of 9.7% (one is below 3%). ROE for the industry has trended downward since summer of 2008 along with the cost of fuel and states unwillingness to pass on increases in current economy. However their dividends have moved in the opposite direction. Some believe that there may be a significant amount of trapped value in high quality utilities today. From a risk reward stand point many argue that high dividend yielding utilities are a good place to put cash.... Read more