WisdomTree EM Equity Income ETF Tops $5B in AUM

The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund DEM is continuing an impressive asset-gathering run that started in earnest in early 2012. WisdomTree WETF said in a statement that DEM recently crossed the lofty $5 billion in assets under management threshold. To put that total in perspective, it was in late February 2012 that WisdomTree was touting the fact that DEM had topped $3 billion in AUM. DEM, which tracks the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Index (WTEMHY) and has an annual expense ratio of 0.63 percent, had $5.09 billion in AUM as of Monday, according to WisdomTree data. As a diversified emerging markets ETF, DEM competes with funds such as the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF VWO and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund EEM. The indexes tracked by those funds have delivered negative returns over the past five years, according to WisdomTree. "DEM, on the other hand, has averaged a positive 5.26% on an annualized basis over the same time frame. I believe this represents strong real-time evidence how dividend weighted equity indexes can be used to add value within key asset classes," said WisdomTree Chief Investment Strategist Luciano Siracusano in a statement. DEM's constituent markets are weighted by income and rebalanced annually. The fund currently offers exposure to 17 countries with Taiwan receiving the largest allocation at 19.8 percent. China is next at 16.1 percent, followed by Russia at nearly 13.3 percent. Brazil is the only other country DEM gives a double-digit weight to. Latin America's largest economy represents nearly 12.5 percent of DEM's weight. Other constituent countries include South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia, Poland and Turkey. At the sector level, financials account for over 27 percent of DEM's weight while materials and energy names each garner allocations north of 18 percent. DEM's current SEC yield is 3.85 percent. In the past five years, DEM has returned 15.5 percent while EEM has lost one percent over the same time. DEM's recent asset growth has been impressive as well. The fund had $4.5 billion in AUM in late November, indicating growth of more than 10 percent in less than two months. For more on this ETF, click here.