TheStreet.com Ratings: Best Large-Cap Dividend Stocks

For those looking for an immediate income boost, the next-best opportunities on the list are high-quality utilities, a staple in every yield-oriented portfolio. These include American Electric Power (AEP Quote), Dominion Resources Inc (D Quote), Firstenergy Corp (FE Quote), FPL Group (FPL Quote), and Entergy (ETR Quote).

But clearly the top utility to consider is Scottish Power (SPI Quote), which has solid earnings and is in merger talks. While the ADR has rallied, the market hasn't priced in the full potential of a sale or merger of this company. Scottish Power's leading suitor, Iberdrola, is a Spanish utility with a keen interest in acquiring two other small valuable Iberian utilities, Fenosa and Gas Natural.

Teaming up with Scottish Power would put a large enough part of the combined companies' overall operations outside of Spain to increase its financial flexibility. That's because, if it acquires Scottish Power, future acquisitions would fall under the jurisdiction of the European Commission as opposed to the more restrictive Spanish regulators. So the proposed deal could be the start of a much larger and better financed operation and certainly makes Scottish Power a worthwhile addition to the portfolio -- even at current prices.

Yet even without such a deal, our ratings model likes Scottish Power's strong dividend, income growth and very low price volatility.

The ratings model's favorite stock on the list, after Altria, is Bank of America (BAC Quote), which earns high marks for its solvency, dividend yield and total return to shareholders. The other financials on this list, Wells Fargo & Co(WFC Quote) and Lincoln National Corp. (LNC Quote), have also grown through acquisitions. Both also possess conservative balance sheets, great consumer franchises and are well-positioned to accumulate assets and make opportunistic acquisitions.