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Price (as of March 15): $87
Annual dividend: $2.80
Yield: 3.2%
Also pays in: February, August and November
This institution is the largest U.S. bank to have remained reasonably healthy during the 2008-09 financial crisis. The best evidence: M&T did not cut its dividend. Because M&T remained profitable during the calamity, regulators had no need to press M&T to hack its dividend. M&T presciently bought a scandal-ridden Baltimore bank on the cheap in 2003 and used it to invade the booming Washington, D.C., region. The company hopes its pending buyout of Delaware's Wilmington Trust will further boost profits.