Dividend stocks started the new year on a bullish footing. As growth stocks have grown again, however, dividend payers have fallen back a bit in favor.
If you’re an income investor, nothing has really changed… except for the ticket prices you might be interested in. Many of them are now much less expensive than they were a few weeks ago, while a number of them are now cheaper. Here are three views of this S&P 500‘s (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) high yield names are now down 34%, 29%, and a whopping 37% from their recent highs that you may want to get at a discount while you can.
Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team recently released a report on one little-known company, called “Indispensable Monopoly” that provides essential technology needed by both Nvidia and Intel. Continue »
It’s been a tough 12 month journey What’s going on‘s (NYSE: PGR) shareholders. The insurer’s stock is down 29% from last May’s peak, mostly on (legitimate) concerns that a good 2024 would be a tough act to follow. Not only has its competition increased, but rising replacement costs pose a clear threat to its profitability. The company has also posted disappointing quarterly numbers yet.
For all the negative comments, it should be highlighted that last year’s revenue grew by more than 30% on profit growth of 16%, which widened its underlying profit margin from 11.2% to 12.6%. The company got off to a good start this year as well, with total revenue up 10% in the first three months of 2026 on premium growth of 6% and a 9% increase in the total number of active policies.
Investors are waiting for problems that don’t happen. They will find out sooner or later, and probably soon.
However, between now and then, the stock’s strong sell-off boosted its yield to 6.8%. Just remember that most of its base payment is a once-a-year payment of its profits earned during the year. It’s not exactly consistent, even if it’s usually great. You don’t want to make PGR your primary or only profit indicator, especially if you’re using these dividend payments to pay off your debts.
Gen Digital (NASDAQ: GEN) it may be one of the stock market’s best-kept secrets. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of it — its $12 billion market doesn’t turn many heads.
Still, with a forward-looking yield of 2.5% and a well-established payment history. something quarterly for shareholders, the stock’s 37% retreat from its August high makes for a compelling argument.
Gen Digital is a digital security service provider. It does a lot, but you may know it better with its products LifeLock and Norton. It also owns Avast and the financial websites Moneylion and GoBankingRates, which it also operates. About 500 million people use at least one of its products, most of which generate recurring revenue. It was on pace to turn revenue of about $5 million into earnings per share of $2.55 for the fiscal year ended in March, up 26% and 15%, respectively.
As for why stocks have performed so poorly of late despite this pullback, dialing back their forward-looking price-to-earnings ratio below 7, it’s caught up largely in the same selloff that has boosted artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity stocks; Broad economic weakness doesn’t help either. Indeed, some investors — experts and novices alike — fear that the rise of AI-powered alternatives will reduce demand for custom-coded security solutions like the ones the company offers.
In fact, however, the rise of AI-powered hacking and digital security threats increases the need for proven cybersecurity solutions such as LifeLock and Norton. As with Progressive, the market should see this soon.
The downside to Gen Digital is that it hasn’t raised its dividend since 2020. This company doesn’t really want to do that; just waiting for the right time.
Finally, add Ares Management (NYSE: ARES) on your list of S&P 500 stocks to buy while it’s down 34% from its early January peak. New entrants will be linking to a forward yield of 4.6%; its dividends have now been raised for eight years in a row.
That’s nowhere near the kind of dividend growth record held by the market’s official Dividend Kings, which have increased their annual payouts for at least 50 years. But it’s a solid start for the company, which has committed to a more predictable quarterly payout from 2018. And it’s developed more than a little. Its quarterly payout of $0.28 per share back in 2018 has grown to this year’s payout of $1.35 per share.
A business built for this kind of consistency, of course. As the name suggests, Ares Management is an investment manager, it collects quarterly cash that it gives to companies, and oversees it. It turned $5.6 billion in cash into nearly $1.1 billion in revenue last year, most of which was passed on to shareholders in the form of dividends.
That’s down slightly from the 2024 comparison, although the market didn’t start to worry about the issue until this year, when more economic weakness became the biggest threat to the sovereign debt industry. An investment bank JPMorgan Chase it even went so far as to write down the value of some of its private-equity bonds last quarter, while — as part of an effort to curb the liquidity headwinds caused by such massive redemptions — Ares itself recently limited the amount of money its investors can withdraw from their stake in the company; it seems to be a problem.
High winds are not something the property manager has faced and survived before, however. And buying on these dips has paid off in the long run.
Before buying stock in Progressive, consider the following:
I The Motley Fool Stock Advisor a team of analysts has just identified what they believe to be 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Progressive was not one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce huge gains in the coming years.
Think about when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 during our recommendation, you will have $524,786!* Whenever Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 during our recommendation, you will have $1,236,406!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s the average total return is 994% – outperformed the market compared to 199% of the S&P 500. Don’t miss the latest top 10 list, available via Stock Advisorand join an investment community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See 10 stocks »
*The Stock Advisor returns as of April 19, 2026.
JPMorgan Chase is the advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. James Brumley has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions and recommends JPMorgan Chase and Progressive. The Motley Fool has a policy of disclosure.
3 S&P 500 Dividend Stocks Marked Down as Much as 37% was originally published by The Motley Fool.
