Though the broad market has risen more than 15% over the past six months, investors still harbor many concerns. A potential bubble in emerging markets, recent protests abroad, and the possibility of a slowdown in the U.S. market all combine to make investors jittery.

However, there's a silver lining: Many quality stocks still trade on the cheap, with plenty of cash to dish out to shareholders. This could mean great opportunities for savvy investors.

I ran a screen for utility companies paying dividends greater than 2%, trading for P/Es below 17, and sporting CAPS ratings of at least four stars, as rated by our 165,000-strong investing community. I've sorted them in order of their dividend yield. The seven stocks below fit that exact criteria:

Company

Dividend Yield

Paying Dividends Since

Price-to-Earnings Ratio

CAPS Rating (out of 5)

CPFL Energy SA (NYSE: CPL) 7.7% 2005 12.9 *****
PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) 5.6% 1985 13.3 ****
FirstEnergy (NYSE: FE) 5.5% 1998 14.5 ****
Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN) 5.4% 1984 14.9 ****
DPL (NYSE: DPL) 5% 1987 11.5 ****
Exelon (NYSE: EXC) 4.9% 1980 11.2 ****
Huaneng Power International (NYSE: HNP) 4.9% 1999 11.6 ****

Source: Motley Fool CAPS as of Feb. 8.

There doesn't seem to be any great reason why so many of these companies are trading cheaply, especially since many of them are steady, recession-proof blue chips. In addition, utility companies generally boast strong dividends because of their mainly consistent cash flow.

However, some of these companies, like Exelon, have been unable to ride the rising tide of the stock market. Exelon's down 2.5% over the last year. As with any industry or sector, it's essential that you make sure to do your due diligence before investing in one of these companies.

These stocks are paying pretty sweet high dividends. If income is what you're looking for, the list above could be a great place to start.

Feel free to add these stocks to your watchlist to get all of our latest commentary and analysis.