10 defensive dividend energy stocks as Wall Street struggles in 2025

The growing interest in defensive dividend strategies has gained significant momentum following Wall Street's steepest sell-off of the 2025 trading year on Monday. As market volatility intensifies, the appeal of dividend safety is becoming increasingly compelling to investors.

The energy sector isn't necessarily seen as a purely defensive play unlike consumer staples or utilities, but it does exhibit several defensive qualities. For example, oil and gas is seen as a basic necessity.

The screened list generated by Seeking Alpha features stocks within the energy sector that offer a minimum 2.5% dividend yield and hold either a Buy or Strong Buy rating from SA Quant, SA Authors, and Wall Street Analysts. The stocks are ranked based on their Quant ratings. 

No. 10: Cheniere Energy (LNG), quant rating of 3.50

No. 9: Petróleo Brasileiro S.A (PBR), quant rating of 3.52.

No. 8: Phillips 66 (PSX), quant rating of 3.80.

No. 7: Diamondback Energy (FANG), quant rating of 3.81.

No. 6: ConocoPhillips (COP), quant rating of 4.41.

No. 5: Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), quant rating of 4.62.

No. 4: Shell (SHEL), quant rating of 4.69.

No. 3: Chevron Corporation (CVX), quant rating of 4.69.

No. 2: Exxon Mobil (XOM), quant rating of 4.77. 

No. 1: MPLX LP (MPLX), quant rating of 4.79. 

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. 

Year-to-date price action: LNG -0.2%, PBR -0.6%, PSX +10.7%, FANG -14.2%, COP -6.3%, EPD +7.3%, SHEL +6.6%, CVX +8.7%, XOM +3.9%, and MPLX +9.4%. 

Investors seeking to keep an eye on the dividend space can also look to explore the following list of popular dividend-focused exchange traded funds for further analysis.

Dividend ETFs: (NYSEARCA:VIG), (NYSEARCA:SCHD), (NYSEARCA:VYM), (NYSEARCA:DGRO), (NYSEARCA:SDY), (NASDAQ:DVY), (BATS:NOBL), (NYSEARCA:HDV), (NASDAQ:VYMI), (NASDAQ:SDVY), (NASDAQ:VIGI), and (NYSEARCA:SPYD).