Top-Performing Utility Dividend Stocks

The market has had a bumpy ride so far in 2014, with February turning in the best performance, rising over 4%, after January’s -3.6% pullback. Cap this off with a less than 1% gain for the S&P 500 in March, and you’ve got an unimpressive 1.3% gain for the first quarter. With the pullback in many biotech stocks, the Healthcare sector no longer leads,(although it’s still up nearly 5%), but has given way to the Utilities sector, which is up over 10% year-to-date.

We looked further into XLU’s top holdings, and came up with these top 5 utility stocks, all of which are large cap dividend paying stocks. Another common feature is that they all have somewhat lower forward P/E’s, meaning that their earnings should improve in their next fiscal year. Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) and Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have the lowest P/E’s, relative to their 5-year P/E ranges: Dominion Resources, Inc. (D), Exelon Corporation (EXC) and NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE).

Source: Investing.com

Related Articles:
- 13 Dividend Growth Stocks With A Good Yield/Growth Mix
- High Yield, High Risk Dividend Stocks
- Dividend Stocks vs. Dividend ETFs
- If Only I Had Known About These Dividend Stocks...
- 10 Dividend Stocks Delivering The Secret To Success