These New Dividend ETFs Have Some Strict Requirements And That's A Good Thing

Plenty of dividend exchange traded funds feature payout increase streak requirements as parts of their weighting methodologies. Some require just a few years of steadily increased dividends. Others require increase streaks of at least a decade.

What Happened

The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF NOBL, one of the fastest growing dividend funds, requires 25 years of consecutive dividend boosts, but ProShares is outdoing that with the newly minted ProShares Russell U.S. Dividend Growers ETF TMDV.

TMDV, which debuted Thursday, follows the Russell 3000 Dividend Elite Index. Indeed, that benchmark is an exclusive club because the requirement for admission is at least 35 years of consecutive dividend increases. Translation: no established ETF has a dividend increase mandate anywhere close to that of the new TMDV.

The index aims to hold a minimum of 40 stocks and currently is home to 68. It's equally weighted and caps sector weights at 30%. Consumer staples, industrial and financial services stocks combine for over 53% of TMDV's weight.

Why It's Important

ProShares didn't stop with TMDV. The ProShares S&P Technology Dividend Aristocrats ETF TDV also debuted Thursday. TDV isn't the first ETF dedicated to the concept of technology sector dividends, but unlike its established rival, the new ProShares has a minimum dividend increase streak requirement.

TDV follows the S&P Technology Dividend Aristocrats, an index that requires member firms to have minimum dividend increase streaks of at least seven years. That can lead to some exclusivity as well as the index currently has just 34 members.

The new ETF does include familiar tech dividend payers such as Cisco Systems CSCO, MasterCard MA and Microsoft MSFT. Over the past decade, technology has been one of the biggest contributors to S&P 500 dividend growth.

What's Next

“Consistent dividend growth may be one of the best indicators of a company’s health,” said Michael Sapir, co-founder and CEO of ProShare Advisors, LLC, the advisor to ProShares, in a statement. “We are committed to offering this powerful strategy across a broad array of market caps, geographies and sectors.”

TDV charges 0.45% per year, or $45 on a $10,000 investment, while TMDV's annual fee is 0.35%.

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