Blue-chip dividend stocks delivered mixed returns last week as investors weighed earnings reports, dividend announcements, and shifting interest rate expectations. With 10-year Treasury yields declining to 4.09%, the relative appeal of dividend-paying equities improved, though performance varied significantly across sectors.
Let’s look at last week’s winners in the dividend space ahead of the market opening today. Dow Futures are currently off about .2% in premarket trading, but that’s a much stronger performance than the Nasdaq’s .8% decline. It looks like this week could be another rotation into safety, which would be good for dividend stocks.
Weekly Performance Snapshot
| Stock | Weekly Return | YTD 2026 | Dividend Yield |
|---|---|---|---|
| Verizon (NYSE:VZ | VZ Price Prediction) | +5.83% | +22.41% | 5.77% |
| Chevron (NYSE:CVX) | +1.59% | +20.56% | 3.88% |
| Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) | +1.44% | +17.64% | 2.10% |
| Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) | -7.04% | -4.45% | 2.06% |
The S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) fell 1.28% for the week, making telecom and energy dividend stocks notable outperformers. Financials lagged sharply as Bank of America retreated from recent highs.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Johnson & Johnson raised its quarterly dividend to $1.30 per share, up from $1.24, marking a 4.8% increase. The new dividend goes ex-dividend on February 24, 2026 and pays March 10, 2026. This extends JNJ’s dividend growth streak to 63 consecutive years, reinforcing its Dividend Aristocrat status.
In total, Johnson & Johnson is up nearly 18% on the year. That makes J&J the 6th best performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We’ll next feature two of the stocks in the DOW that have outperformed the company.
Verizon (VZ)
Verizon announced a $.7075 quarterly dividend and a $25 billion share buyback program. The raise brings Verizon’s annualized payout to $2.83, supporting the stock’s 5.8% yield, the highest among the names in this article. Strong free cash flow from the Frontier acquisition closure provided management confidence to boost shareholder returns.
Overall, after normalized earnings fell in 2024, they bounced back to growth in 2025. Wall Street expects Verizon to grow to adjusted earnings of $4.91 in 2026 (from $4.71 in 2025) up to $5.25 in 2027. That growth is helping fuel the company’s buyback program and is a key reason Verizon shares are up 22% so far this year, significantly outpacing the broader index.
Chevron (CVX)
Chevron also raised its quarterly dividend by 4% to $1.78 per share, payable March 10, 2026. The energy giant’s record production levels and $12.1 billion in buybacks during 2025 underscore its commitment to capital returns despite oil price volatility.
Integrated oil & gas companies have generally had a stellar start to 2026. Exxon Mobil is up 23.4%, slightly outpacing
Bank of America (BAC)
Bank of America fell 7.04% this week, giving back gains from its strong Q3 earnings report. The bank continues returning capital to shareholders, with $7.4 billion returned in Q3. I wrote about the broader financial space’s sell-off on Friday.
As we explored in today’s Daily Profit newsletter, investors are navigating sector rotation dynamics as AI disruption concerns impact different market segments—while tech faces headwinds, traditional dividend payers like these financials and telecoms are drawing renewed attention.
As of right now, industries like oil & gas and broad-based healthcare companies have benefited from investors rotating into safety, but we also saw the panic around AI disruption expand to industries like banking and commercial real estate. So, it’s also a very unpredictable market. As I noted at the top, premarket futures this morning indicate we’ll see even more rotation into blue-chip stocks once trading opens this week.
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