Mad Money's Top 3 Utility Dividend Picks

Avi Morris submits:With record low yields on Treasury securities and investment grade bonds, investors are looking for alternatives which earn high yields. The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats list provides attractive yields and expectations of growing dividends. Below is a list of the best Dividend Aristocrats yielding more than 3% (as of November 10, 2010).

Bret Jensen submits:Another choppy day in the markets came to a close Wednesday. Equities meandered throughout the day to finally finish down slightly overall. The Dow managed a minor gain, but both the S&P and NASDAQ ended in the red.

By Bear Fight:Equity market strategists forecast a volatile 2012 with lackluster equity market returns due to macroeconomic headwinds. In light of euro debt woes, slowing growth, and stubbornly high unemployment, investors should protect their portfolios from volatility.

By Dividendinvestr:Defensive investors like high dividend stocks since they believe these stocks can protect them from potential inflation. Utility companies are good examples of defensive stocks with generally high and stable yields. Below we prepared a list of eight utility companies that pay fat dividend checks and have low P/E ratios. All companies on this list have a market capitalization above $5 billion, P/E ratio lower than 15 and dividend yield of at least 4%.

Insider Monkey submits: Jim Cramer is one of the top watched TV personalities on CNBC. He is the host of Mad Money and also the co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. Nearly 250,000 people watch his show daily on TV and most of these are ordinary investors trying to understand what's going on in the market. Jim Cramer's bullish and bearish stock picks on his show are the starting points for many investments made by these folks.

By Rash Menaria: American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is one of the biggest international insurance organizations, serving customers in more than 130 countries. I discussed AIG's Top Buys in a previous article. In addition, for investors seeking yield it is also interesting to have a look at AIG's top dividend holdings.

By Dividend Millionaire:The recent volatility in the equity markets has spooked a lot of investors. This, combined with a low interest rate environment, has gotten nearly everyone I talk to excited about dividend investing. Lately it seems like I’ve been finding a lot of good deals among utility companies.

Osman Gulseven submits:Utility stocks are known to be the dividend kings of the market. Among the utility companies, electric utility companies are among the safest investments, offering regular dividends. These companies are subject to regulations, yet most of them have almost monopoly power in their region.