By Dan Weil In periods of sharp market volatility like what we’re experiencing now, dividend stocks can offer a safe haven. In a time of market volatility like the present, dividend stocks may provide a margin of safety. Investors can have confidence that many dividend-paying companies will have the wherewithal to continue returning cash to them and in some cases will regularly raise the dividend. So it’s no wonder that for the year to date through Feb. 7, the S&P 500 High Yield Dividend Index, which includes the S&P 500’s 80 top dividend payers, returned 2.6% including dividends, creaming the…