More than $10 billion has flowed into dividend exchange traded funds so far this year and now some analysts are talking about a potential bubble in income-producing stocks and ETFs.
For example, WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income (NYSEArca: DEM) and Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (NYSEArca: VIG) have each seen more than $2 billion move in the door in 2012. [Why Dividend ETFs Remain Popular]
However, Michael Clarfeld, portfolio at ClearBridge Advisors, tells Morningstar he doesn’t think there is a bubble in dividend stocks, although some traditional income sectors are becoming slightly overvalued.
Many popular dividend stocks are established, very large-cap companies.
“So, it’s not a small segment. The idea that some people who are starting to allocate money there are going to really change the pricing in the marketplace sort of surprises us,” he said. “More importantly I guess the answer is we do see a few areas of dividend stocks where we see some higher-than-expected valuations. We think particularly at the highest-yielding end of the spectrum–on the utilities side or with telecom–we think some of those are a little richly valued.”
In dividend ETFs, some of the other largest funds include iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund (NYSEArca: DVY), iShares High Dividend Equity Fund (NYSEArca: HDV), SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (NYSEArca: SDY), Vanguard High Dividend Yield Index Fund (NYSEArca: VYM), WisdomTree Dividend Top 100 Fund (NYSEArca: DTN), PowerShares International Dividend Achievers (NYSEArca: PID) and First Trust Morningstar dividend Leaders (NYSEArca: FDL).