Flows For This ETF Issuer Show Investors Love Dividends

It may be data from just one issuer, but September inflows to Invesco's IVZ PowerShares ETF arm highlight an already known trend: Investors are pouring cash into income-oriented funds at a rapid pace. Of the 10 PowerShares ETFs that saw the largest inflows in September, four are clearly income products. A case can be made that a fifth, the wildly popular PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio SPLV, is a dividend ETF as well. SPLV, the largest low volatility ETF on the market, allocates a combined 75 percent of its weight to consumer staples, utilities and health care names. Those are all sectors prized by income investors. SPLV also has a 30-day SEC yield of just over three percent. By comparison, the 30-day SEC yield on the SPDR S&P 500 SPY is just 1.98 percent. SPLV ranked fourth among PowerShares ETFs in terms of September inflows. The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund DBC lead the way in terms of September inflows to PowerShares ETFs with $322 million. The PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio BKLN, one of the most prodigious gatherers of assets this year, raked in $202 million to end September with $927 in AUM, according to PowerShares. Money has kept flowing to BKLN, which now has almost $1.2 billion in assets. BKLN, which pays a monthly dividend, has a 30-day SEC yield of 4.4 percent. The PowerShares Preferred Portfolio PGX was fifth-best among the firm's ETFs in terms of gaining assets in September. PGX haulded in $61 million in cash to end September with $1.99 billion in assets. As further proof the yield chase is still on and going strong, PGX is now close to $2.1 billion in AUM. PGX has a 30-day SEC yield of 6.43 percent and also pays a monthly dividend. Not surprisingly, the PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt Portfolio PCY appears on the list as well. PCY, the second-largest ETF offering exposure to dollar-denominated emerging markets sovereign debt, has been prime beneficiary of robust inflows to EM bond funds. PCY hauled in $55 million in September to finish the month with $2.27 billion. As of October 31, PCY had over $2.8 billion in assets. Another monthly dividend payer, PCY has a 30-day SEC yield of four percent. The 30-day SEC yield on the PowerShares Insured National Municipal Bond Portfolio PZA is just 2.98 percent, investors still poured $50 million into the ETF in September. PZA ended the month with $855 million in assets. October has been even better as PZA now has $931.7 million in assets. The other ETFs to make the list of top-10 PowerShares asset gainers in September included two commodities funds, the PowerShares India Portfolio PIN and the PowerShares DWA Technical Leaders Portfolio PDP. For more on dividend ETFs, click here.