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Is Fidelity High Dividend ETF (FDVV) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The Fidelity High Dividend ETF (FDVV - Free Report) made its debut on 09/12/2016, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Value 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.

Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.

If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.

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.

Even though this space provides many choices to investors--think one of the simplest methodologies like equal-weighting and more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting--not all have been able to deliver first-rate results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

The fund is managed by Fidelity. FDVV has been able to amass assets over $1.56 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Value. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the Fidelity Core Dividend Index.

The Fidelity High Dividend Index reflects the performance of stocks of large and mid-capitalization high-dividend-paying companies that are expected to continue to pay and grow their dividends.

Cost & Other Expenses

Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.

Annual operating expenses for FDVV are 0.29%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.60%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

For FDVV, it has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector --about 25.30% of the portfolio --while Financials and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Apple Inc (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 5.85% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT - Free Report) and Procter & Gamble Co (PG - Free Report) .

FDVV's top 10 holdings account for about 29.33% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the Fidelity High Dividend ETF has gained about 9.05% so far, and it's up approximately 14.69% over the last 12 months (as of 07/06/2023). FDVV has traded between $33.02 and $40.08 in this past 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 1.01 and standard deviation of 16.88% for the trailing three-year period. With about 114 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Fidelity High Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

Dimensional U.S. Targeted Value ETF (DFAT - Free Report) tracks ---------------------------------------- and the iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF (IUSV - Free Report) tracks S&P 900 Value Index. Dimensional U.S. Targeted Value ETF has $8.09 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF has $14.06 billion. DFAT has an expense ratio of 0.28% and IUSV charges 0.04%.

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

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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