One month into the year, the average dividend yield of the Dow 30 has gone up a bit since the start of 2009, but is still down from where it was at the end of November. At the end of 2008, the average yield on the Dow was 3.9%. Now that number has risen to 4.4% even after Bank of America cut its dividend in half at the end of the year.
According to data from Thomson Reuters, General Electric is now the highest yielding stock on the Dow. Note that these rankings are based on historical dividend yields and could change as happened with Citigroup and Bank of America when they lowered their dividend to a penny per share last quarter or as Pfizer just announced its plan to cut its dividend in half.
Below is a table listing the yields of all 30 Dow components. The average yield for the index based on yesterday's close is 4.4%. Even if you are suspicious of the higher yielding financials, there may be some good value plays to consider here.
