The stock market carnage continues as investors ponder the economic impact of intensifying trade wars. With major global indexes slumping, the high dividend yields on many top stocks have now shot through the stratosphere.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s ‘fill your boots time’ for share pickers seeking a large passive income. The threat of ‘Trump tariffs’ and reciprocal action from the US’s major trading partners could hammer corporate profitability and, in the process, leave dividend forecasts in the near term and beyond on shaky ground.
Investors need to be extra careful today when selecting dividend stocks to buy. With this in mind, here are two I think are worth considering in these uncertain times.
Aviva
A financial services company like Aviva (LSE:AV) might not be an obvious safe haven for dividend chasers to consider. Sales can dry up when economic conditions worsen and people cut back on discretionary protection, wealth and retirement products.
But the FTSE 100 company has a powerful weapon in its arsenal. With a Solvency II capital ratio of 203% — more than twice the regulatory requirement — it has the financial strength to continue paying large dividends even if earnings disappoint.
Aviva has another trick up its sleeve that reinforces dividends: a large general insurance division. Spending on buildings, content, pet — and especially motor, which is a legal requirement for drivers — policies remains stable at all points of the economic cycle.
The steady stream of premiums Aviva receives allows it to in turn pay a reliable dividend to shareholders.
General insurance premiums here leapt 14% in 2024, even as consumer spending across Aviva’s UK, Irish and Canadian markets remained under pressure. This resilience is also thanks to the firm’s impressive brand power and the huge sums it’s spent to digitialise its operations.
Today the company’s forward dividend yield is a whopping 7.1%. That’s almost double the FTSE 100 average of 3.6%.
Primary Health Properties
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) like Primary Health Properties (LSE:PHP) can also be great shares for generating a passive income. They’re required to pay at least 90% of rental profits each year out by way of dividends in return for tax breaks.
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This doesn’t necessarily mean a large and reliable payout every year though. Rent collection can slip during tough economic times, while occupancy levels can also slump.
Primary Health Properties doesn’t suffer from any such issues, however. This is because — as its name implies — it is focused on the highly defensive medical property market.
It lets out more than 500 first contact healthcare properties across the UK and Ireland. And the lion’s share of its rents are effectively guaranteed by government bodies like the NHS. This in turn has underpinned 29 straight years of annual dividend growth.
I think it’s a great safe haven to consider, despite the threat of high interest rates on its profits. For 2025 it carries a high dividend yield of 7.3%.
