S&P; Highlights Dividend Stocks

Many investors are focusing these days on rising Treasury bond yields--but if you’re looking for income, don’t forget stocks. Many have dividend yields in the same neighborhood as bonds, and stock payouts--unlike bond interest checks--often rise each year.

Standard & Poor’s Investor’s Monthly recently published a list of 30 stocks with “above-average yields, as well as good earnings and dividend growth prospects.”

Among them: Alliance Capital Management (ticker symbol: AC), with a dividend yield of 7.2%; Equity Residential Properties Trust (EQR), 6%; GPU (GPU), electric utility, 4.9%; Ohio Casualty (OCAS), insurer, 4.7%; J.C. Penney (JCP), retailer, 4.4%; and TransCanada Pipelines (TRP), 5.6%.