Looking to build on the success of the ProShares S&P 500 Aristocrats ETF (NYSEArca: NOBL), ProShares doubled the size of its dividend growth ETF suite today with the introduction of two new funds.
Joining NOBL and the ProShares MSCI EAFE Dividend Growers ETF (NYSEArca: EFAD) as ProShares dividend growth ETFs are the ProShares Russell 2000 Dividend Growers ETF (NYSEArca: SMDV) and the ProShares S&P MidCap 400 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NYSEArca: REGL). Like, NOBL, the ProShares S&P MidCap 400 Dividend Aristocrats ETF tracks a dividend aristocrats index. The midcap dividend aristocrats index requires 15 consecutive years of increased dividends for inclusion whereas NOBL’s underlying index requires a minimum dividend increase streak of 25 years. [Portfolio Building With Dividend Growth ETFs]
REGL’s index is equal-weighted. The new ETF allocates a combined 47.6% of its weight to the utilities and financial services sectors with industrials and consumer staples combining for another 28.7%, according to ProShares data.
The ProShares Russell 2000 Dividend Growers ETF, a dividend spin on the Russell 2000, the benchmark U.S. small-cap index, tracks the Russell 2000 Dividend Growth Index. That index includes small-cap firms with dividend increase streaks of at least a decade. Index constituents are screened for liquidity and dividend status, then selected and equal weighted subject to a maximum sector weight of 30%, according to Russell Investments.
SMDV allocates almost 30.2% of its weight to financial services stocks, an overweight of more than 600 basis points to that sector relative to the Russell 2000. The new ETF also features a combined 34.3% weight to materials and utilities stocks. Those sectors combine for just over 8% of the Russell 2000.
“Over the past 28 years, U.S. equities that grew dividends year over year returned 13.9%, while those that paid them without growing them returned 10.1%, according to Ned Davis Research. The findings are based on an analysis of companies underlying the Russell 3000 Index, a measure of the broad U.S. equities market, from February 2, 1987 through December 31, 2014,” said ProShares in a statement.