The Highest-Yielding S&P MidCap 400 Stocks

Updated from 7:01 a.m. EDT

Often, investors look for investment opportunities in large-cap and small-cap stocks, yet they tend to overlook the mid-cap investment opportunities. Standard & Poor's has a MidCap 400 Index, and surprisingly, many of these companies carry fairly high yields.

Stockpickr has reviewed the stocks in the index and compiled a list of the Highest-Yielding S&P MidCap 400 Stocks.

One of the top-yielding mid-cap stocks is PNM Resources (PNM Quote), which yields 7.9%. Shares of this distributor of electricity and natural gas have been beaten down recently over rate regulation discussions in New Mexico. But when the Albuquerque, N.M.-based company responded last Thursday to rate-case recommendations by New Mexico regulators, the stock regained some 17%. The stock has a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 13 and a P/E-to-growth (PEG) ratio of 1.7.

The stockholders of PNM are in good company, as Microsoft's (MSFT Quote) Bill Gates owns shares of this company through his Cascade Investments investment vehicle. Cascade also owns shares of Canadian National Railway (CNI Quote), which sports a 2% yield, Republic Services (RSG Quote), which has a yield of 2.3%, and Grupo Televisa (TV Quote), which has a 0.7% yield.

Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT Quote) is another high-yield mid-cap stock, with a payout rate of 8.5%. This real estate investment trust specializes in hotels, including Courtyard by Marriott, Residence Inn by Marriott, Staybridge Suites by Holiday Inn and Candlewood Suites. The REIT last month reported a 29% increase in revenue in the fourth quarter. The stock has a forward P/E of 7.5 and a PEG of 1.4.

Hospitality Trust shows up in the Stockpickr portfolio called Barron's Research Reports Jan. 19. Other stocks in the portfolio include Boston Private Financial Holdings (BPFH Quote), which yields 3.6%, Citigroup (C Quote), with a 5.7% yield, and Frontier Oil (FTO Quote), which has a 0.7% yield.

Lee Enterprises (LEE Quote), which is also part of the MidCap 400 Index, pays a yield of 6.6%. Lee, which owns more than 50 newspapers throughout the U.S., has a forward P/E of 9.5 and a PEG of 3.

Lee appears in the portfolio of the First Trust Value Line Dividend Fund, the first closed-end fund to be converted into an exchange-traded fund. This ETF also holds shares of ConocoPhillips (COP Quote), which has a 2.5% yield, Telecom Corp. of New Zealand (NZT Quote), with a 6.9% yield, and Plum Creek Timber (PCL Quote), which has a 4% yield.

To see the entire list of 10 mid-cap stocks, check out the Highest-Yielding S&P MidCap 400 Stocks at Stockpickr.com.