Launched on 05/29/2013, the SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF (WDIV) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the World ETFs 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 work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
There are some investors, though, who think it’s possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
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 State Street Global Advisors. WDIV has been able to amass assets over $273.18 million, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the World ETFs. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats Index.
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
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF’s expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.40% for WDIV, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.03%.
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.
Looking at individual holdings, Enagas Sa (ENG-ES) accounts for about 1.64% of total assets, followed by At&t Inc. (T) and Keyera Corp. (KEY-CA).
WDIV’s top 10 holdings account for about 14.71% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF return is roughly 0% so far, and was up about 2.51% over the last 12 months (as of 04/26/2022). WDIV has traded between $63.91 and $71.40 in this past 52-week period.
WDIV has a beta of 0.87 and standard deviation of 20.70% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a low risk choice in the space. With about 119 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) tracks MSCI All Country World Index and the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) tracks FTSE Global All Cap Index. IShares MSCI ACWI ETF has $18.45 billion in assets, Vanguard Total World Stock ETF has $24.21 billion. ACWI has an expense ratio of 0.32% and VT charges 0.07%.
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
.
Want key ETF info delivered straight to your inbox?
Zacks’ free Fund Newsletter will brief you on top news and analysis, as well as top-performing ETFs, each week.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.
Click to get this free report
