15 defensive dividend plays as Wall Street sinks around tariff concerns
Mar. 04, 2025 10:39 AM ET
By: Jason Capul, SA News Editor
As Wall Street’s broader market averages continue to decline on Tuesday, following Monday’s significant sell-off, the idea of defensive dividend stocks is growing louder. With market volatility casting uncertainty, dividend-paying stocks, particularly those in stable sectors, are drawing more attention as potential safe havens.
In response, Seeking Alpha has curated a list of 15 defensive dividend stocks for investors seeking stability. These stocks were selected from defensive sectors such as Energy, Consumer Staples, Financials, and Healthcare—industries historically known for their resilience in turbulent markets. Furthermore, all the stocks on this list meet stringent criteria for solid dividend performance, based on Seeking Alpha’s quant metrics.
Each of the selected stocks holds at least a B- grade or higher in key areas such as dividend safety, growth, yield, and consistency. To assist investors, the list is also ranked by year-to-date performance, providing insight into the best-performing options so far in 2025.
For reference, Seeking Alpha's Quant system is driven by powerful computer processing and SA's special 'Quantamental' analysis. It awards grades to stocks based on collective value, growth, profitability, earnings per share revisions, and price momentum metrics.
15 Defensive Dividend Plays
No. 15: Manulife Financial Corporation ( MFC), -0.3% YTD.
No. 14: The J. M. Smucker Company ( SJM), +1.8% YTD.
No. 13: Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation ( AGM), +3.2% YTD.
No. 12: Radian Group ( RDN), +4.2% YTD.
No. 11: MetLife ( MET), +4.6% YTD.
No. 10: Bank of Montreal ( BMO), +4.7% YTD.
No. 9: Bristol-Myers Squibb ( BMY), +5.8% YTD.
No. 8: Elevance Health ( ELV), +7.2% YTD.
No. 7: Altria Group ( MO), +9.6% YTD.
No. 6: Fidelity National Financial ( FNF), +15.4% YTD.
No. 5: Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ), +15.6% YTD.
No. 4: Medtronic plc ( MDT), +18.1% YTD.
No. 3: AbbVie ( ABBV), +19% YTD.
No. 2: Amgen ( AMGN), +19.2% YTD.
No. 1: Gilead Sciences ( GILD), +25.5% YTD.
Additionally, investors interested in monitoring the dividend space may want to consider reviewing the following well-known dividend-focused exchange traded funds for deeper analysis: |
