10 Top Utility Stocks to Buy for Safety and Dividends
A strange thing is happening with utility stocks.
Traditionally, when interest rates move higher - typically measured by the movement of the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield - investors rotate away from utilities. But that hasn't been the case; in fact, the opposite is true. Instead, the sector's safety aspect is winning out, and jittery investors are piling into the space.
"In a market like this, in a dramatic selloff, the rotational effects will be higher than the interest rate effect," says Jay Hatfield, CEO and portfolio manager at Infrastructure Capital Management.
Broadly speaking, according to stock market research firm Birinyi Associates, independent power producers and electric utilities are best at handling the market adversity. Multi-utilities and water providers are losing ground, just like the rest of the market.
But specifically, what are the best stock picks in this defensive sector - where investors can duck for cover? Here are 10 utility stocks to buy that yield an average of 4.1%.
NextEra Energy
Market value: $80.5 billion
Dividend yield: 2.6%
Analysts' opinion: 14 buy, 1 overweight, 3 hold, 0 underperform, 1 sell
Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy (, $172.66) is not only the largest U.S.-listed utility stock by market cap, but it's also on Fortune magazine's "Change the World" list of 25 companies "that have had a positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy." It's the only energy company in
