Regulated businesses protect their dividends

Article Excerpt

These two utilities are down slightly since the start of 2022. That’s mainly because rising interest rates diminish the appeal of high-yielding stocks as investors shift to high-yielding, and more stable, bonds. Moreover, higher rates also add to interest costs for utilities. However, these two companies get most of their income from rate-regulated operations, which cuts their risk and gives them enough cash for dividends. With that in mind, their lower price increases their appeal for your new buying. ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $56 is a buy. This utility (New York symbol LNT; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 251.0 million; Market cap: $14.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.4; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alliantenergy.com) sells power and natural gas to 1.4 million clients in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. In the third quarter of 2022, Alliant’s revenue rose 10.8%, to $1.14 billion from $1.02 billion a year earlier. That was due to warmer-than-usual weather, which increased demand for power to run air conditioners. However, due to…