Dividends: It's Getting Dangerous.

It's been a messy year for markets, but have you seen the returns of high-dividend utility stocks? Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED ) is up 25% over the last year, and by more than half over the last two years. Shares have been on such a tear lately that the stock's dividend yield has dropped to the lowest level in more than 14 years. Another utility, Southern (NYSE: SO ) , has risen so far so fast that its dividend yield is now near the lowest on record.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) shares are also up nearly a third over the last year, and have surged 80% in the last two. Cigarette giant Altria (NYSE: MO ) is up 28% in the last year, and has been on a nearly uninterrupted 170% boom since 2009. Its sister company Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM ) has done even better, doubling in the last two years. Its dividend yield has plunged to just 3.5% -- lower than I think anyone owning a tobacco company ever expected to see. Frankly, it's getting dangerous.

Source: Motley Fool

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