An Investors' Guide To Dividend Aristocrat ETFs

Volatility and uncertainty surrounding global economic growth and rising yields have made investors defensive. This has increased the appeal for products that provide safety and stability in a rocky market.

Dividend-focused products offer both safety in the form of payouts and stability in the form of mature companies that are less volatile to the large swings in stock prices. The dividend-paying securities are the major sources of consistent income for investors when returns from equity markets are at risk. Further, these products are proven outperformers over the long-term.

While there are plenty of options in the dividend ETF world, honing in on the "dividend aristocrats" could be the most beneficial way to ride out the current market volatility, resulting from political and geopolitical worries.

Why Dividend Aristocrats?

Dividend aristocrats are blue-chip dividend-paying companies, which have a long history of raising dividend payments each year. These generally act as a hedge against economic uncertainty and provide downside protection by offering outsized payouts or sizable yields on a regular basis. Additionally, aristocrats tend to skew the portfolio to less volatile sectors and mature companies.

Investors should note that the dividend aristocrat funds offer more dividend growth opportunities when compared to the other products in the space but might not necessarily have the highest yields. Further, these products lead to a healthy portfolio with a greater scope of capital appreciation as opposed to simple dividend paying stocks or those with high yields.

As a result, these products provide a nice combination of annual dividend growth and capital appreciation opportunity and are mainly suitable for risk adverse long-term investors. For them, we have highlighted some popular ETFs that could be excellent choices:

Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF VIG

This is the largest and most-popular ETF in the dividend space with AUM of $28.9 billion and average daily volume of about 596,000 shares. The fund follows the NASDAQ US Dividend Achievers Select Index, which is composed of high quality stocks that have a record of raising dividend every year. It holds 182 securities in the basket, with none accounting for more than 4.5% share. The fund charges 8 bps in annual fees.

iShares Select Dividend ETF DVY

This fund provides exposure to the companies with a consistent 5-year history of dividend payments. It follows the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index and holds 98 securities in its basket with each accounting for less than 2.6% of assets. The ETF has AUM of $16.7 billion and average daily volume of more than 489,000 shares. It charges 39 bps in fees per year from investors.

SPDR S&P Dividend ETF SDY 

With AUM of $15.4 billion and average daily volume of 377,000 shares, this fund provides a well-diversified exposure to 111 U.S. stocks that have been consistently increasing their dividends every year for at least 20 years. This can be done by tracking the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index. Each firm accounts for less than 2.5% of assets. The fund charges 35 bps in fees.

Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF SCHD

With AUM of $7.8 billion, this product offers exposure to 108 high-dividend yielding U.S. companies that have a record of consistent dividend payments supported by fundamental strength based on financial ratios and ample liquidity. This can be easily done by tracking the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index. The fund is well spread across components, with none holding more than 4.8% of assets. It charges 7 bps in annual fees and trades in solid volume of around 758,000 shares a day.

Related Links:

What It Takes To Be A Dividend King

A New Aristocrats ETF With Added Income