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Aug.20

9:02 AM ET

Wednesday, 20 Aug 2008

Highest Yielding Stocks On The S&P

Posted By:Ariel Nelson

Topics:Dow Jones Industrial Average | Stock Market

Earlier this week, we wrote about the highest yielding stocks on the Dow. The S&P 500 also has some nice yielding stocks. If you are worried about the financials being able to continue to pay thier big dividends (with Freddie Mac's [FRE Loading... () ] big slide, its yield is now over 20%!), there are over 45 stocks on the S&P that are currently yielding 5% or more.

Including FRE, Financials represent 8 of the top 10 yielding stocks and 48% of the stocks with yields over 5%.

Utilities represent 17% of the highest yielding stocks and are often seen as a defensive play because of their reliable cash flows and these relatively safe returns. Ameren [AEE Loading... ()

] leads the sector with a 6.0% yield.

Following Utilities, are Telecom and Consumer Discretionary stocks representing 13% and 11% of the top yielding stocks. Qwest [Q Loading... ()

] and Gannett [GCI Loading... ()

] have yields over 8.5% each.

The average yield of dividend paying stocks on the S&P 500 is 2.7%

Keep in mind, stocks facing a downturn could either end up cutting or eliminating dividends all together. Take General Motors [GM Loading... () ] for example. Their shares were yielding about 5% back in March, but have since suspended their dividend completely.