WisdomTree Small-Cap Dividend ETF Tops $1B in AUM
The WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Fund (DES) recently topped $1 billion in assets under management.
Luciano Siracusano, WisdomTree Chief Investment Strategist, commented: “By weighting the US small-cap market by the dividends companies pay, WisdomTree has been able to create a potential source of income for investors looking for alternatives in today’s low-interest rate environment,” reports Simon Smith for ETF Strategy.
DES is seven and a half years old. Home to over 600 stocks, DES has a distribution yield 2.46% and an annual expense ratio of 0.38%, according to issuer data. Like WisdomTree’s other U.S. dividend ETFs, DES pays a monthly dividend .
The top sectors weights in DES are financial services at nearly 25%, industrials at 19.6% and consumer discretionary at 13%. Top-10 holdings include RR Donnelley & Sons Co (RRD), Vector Group (VGR), Molex (NYSE:MLX), Tal International Group (TAL), Lexmark International (LXK), UIL Holdings (UIL), Black Hills (BKH), PDL BioPharma (PDLI), Olin (OLN) and Questcor Pharmaceuticals (QCOR). [A Closer Look at WisdomTree Dividend ETFs]
Unlike some other popular dividend ETFs, DES does not weigh its components based on length of dividend increase streaks or yield. Rather, the WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Index, the underlying index for DES, focuses on the “aggregate cash dividends each component company is projected to pay in the coming year, based on the most recently declared dividend per share,” according to WisdomTree.
DES is up nearly 27% this year.
Other well-known WisdomTree small-cap ETFs include the $1.7 billion WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend Fund (DGS) and the $492.3 million WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend Fund (DFE).
WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Fund
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.
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