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Is WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend ETF (DHS) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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Making its debut on 06/16/2006, smart beta exchange traded fund WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend ETF (DHS - Free Report) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large 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 offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

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.

Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.

While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.

Fund Sponsor & Index

Managed by Wisdomtree, DHS has amassed assets over $1.06 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index before fees and expenses.

The WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of companies with high dividend yields selected from the WisdomTree Dividend Index.

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 0.38% for DHS, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

DHS's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 4.40%.

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.

DHS's heaviest allocation is in the Financials sector, which is about 24.40% of the portfolio. Its Energy and Utilities round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Abbvie Inc (ABBV - Free Report) accounts for about 5.09% of the fund's total assets, followed by Chevron Corp (CVX - Free Report) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 35.77% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has lost about -2.42% so far this year and is down about -5.61% in the last one year (as of 02/06/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $73.70 and $89.01.

The ETF has a beta of 0.80 and standard deviation of 14.67% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 384 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.

Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD - Free Report) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index and the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV - Free Report) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value Index. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF has $52.27 billion in assets, Vanguard Value ETF has $107.27 billion. SCHD has an expense ratio of 0.06% and VTV 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 - Large 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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