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Is ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) a Strong ETF Right Now?

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The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL - Free Report) made its debut on 10/09/2013, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the 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.

However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: 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.

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

The fund is managed by Proshares, and has been able to amass over $11.25 billion, which makes it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. NOBL seeks to match the performance of the S&P 500 DividendAristocrats Index before fees and expenses.

The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index targets companies that are currently members of the S&P 500, have increased dividend payments each year for at least 25 years & meet certain market capitalization & liquidity requirements.

Cost & Other Expenses

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.

Annual operating expenses for NOBL are 0.35%, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.06%.

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.

For NOBL, it has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Staples sector --about 24.3% of the portfolio --while Industrials and Financials round out the top three.

Taking into account individual holdings, Pepsico Inc (PEP) accounts for about 1.62% of the fund's total assets, followed by Amcor Plc (AMCR) and Ww Grainger Inc (GWW).

NOBL's top 10 holdings account for about 14.17% of its total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 3.71% so far this year and is up about 9.02% in the last one year (as of 03/17/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $90.85 and $114.59

The ETF has a beta of 0.82 and standard deviation of 12.56% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 70 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO) tracks Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index and the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares (VIG) tracks NASDAQ US Dividend Achievers Select Index. iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF has $37.62 billion in assets, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund ETF Shares has $100.93 billion. DGRO has an expense ratio of 0.08% and VIG changes 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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