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Is SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF (WDIV) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF (WDIV - Free Report) was launched on 05/29/2013, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.

Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.

This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $252.67 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the World ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats Index measures the performance of high dividend-yield companies included in the S&P Global BMI that have followed a managed-dividends policy of increasing or stable dividends for at least ten consecutive years.

Cost & Other Expenses

For ETF investors, expense ratios are an important factor when considering a fund's return; in the long-term, cheaper funds actually have the ability to outperform their more expensive cousins if all other things remain the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.40% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.66%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

When you look at individual holdings, Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM - Free Report) accounts for about 2% of the fund's total assets, followed by Enagas Sa (ENG-ES) and Smartcentres Real Estate Investment Trust (SRU.UT-CA).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 15.78% of WDIV's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has gained about 14.59% so far this year and is up roughly 42.92% in the last one year (as of 05/06/2021). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $48.53 and $68.66.

WDIV has a beta of 0.95 and standard deviation of 20.65% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a low risk choice in the space. With about 120 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the World ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI - Free Report) tracks MSCI All Country World Index and the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT - Free Report) tracks FTSE Global All Cap Index. IShares MSCI ACWI ETF has $16.67 billion in assets, Vanguard Total World Stock ETF has $20.26 billion. ACWI has an expense ratio of 0.32% and VT charges 0.08%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the World ETFs.

Bottom Line

To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.

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