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Is WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Quality Dividend Growth ETF (DNL) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Quality Dividend Growth ETF (DNL - Free Report) made its debut on 06/16/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.

A good option for investors who believe in market efficiency, market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns.

On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.

These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.

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 managed by Wisdomtree, and has been able to amass over $595.85 million, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the World ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Index.

The WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of dividend paying stocks with growth characteristics in the developed and emerging markets outside of the United States.

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.

Annual operating expenses for DNL are 0.42%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.79%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

Looking at individual holdings, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd accounts for about 8.12% of total assets, followed by Lvmh Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Se (MC - Free Report) and Gsk Plc (GSK - Free Report) .

Performance and Risk

Year-to-date, the WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Quality Dividend Growth ETF has added about 10.16% so far, and is up about 19.10% over the last 12 months (as of 09/06/2023). DNL has traded between $27.20 and $36.65 in this past 52-week period.

DNL has a beta of 0.95 and standard deviation of 18.69% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 306 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

WisdomTree Global ex-U.S. Quality Dividend Growth 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 Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO - Free Report) tracks Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index and the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG - Free Report) tracks NASDAQ US Dividend Achievers Select Index. IShares Core Dividend Growth ETF has $23.90 billion in assets, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF has $68.76 billion. DGRO has an expense ratio of 0.08% and VIG charges 0.06%.

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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