ProShares expanded its line of non-leveraged exchange traded funds Thursday, launching the new S&P 500 dividend fund that follows quality names with a consistent record of raising dividends.
The ProShares S&P 500 Aristocrats ETF (NYSEArca: NOBL) tries to reflect the performance of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index, which has outperformed the S&P 500 since 2005 with less volatility, according to a press release. The S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats has gained an annualized return of 9.7% since its May 3, 2005 inception, compared to the S&P 500’s 6.7% return. [ProShares Dividend ETF Debuts]
The underlying index only follows S&P 500 companies that have increased regular dividend payments for at least 25 consecutive years and component holdings are equally weighted.
“Consistent dividend growth is considered an important indicator of a company’s financial strength,” Michael Sapir, Chairman and CEO of ProShare Advisors LLC, ProShares’ investment advisor, said in the press release. “By that measure, the Aristocrats are the strongest of the strong in the S&P 500—the companies with the best track records of increasing dividends.”
The fund has 54 components, and the top holdings include Air Products & Chemicals (NYSE: APD) 2.0%, Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) 2.0% and Dover Corp. (NYSE: DOV) 2.0%.
Sector allocations include consumer staples 23.7%, industrials 15.4%, materials 13.3%, health care 13.1%, consumer discretionary 12.7%, financials 12.7%, energy 3.7%, information technology 1.9%, utilities 1.8% and telecom services 1.8%.