Fresnillo is not the only dividend offender among silver miners and that could be part of the reason why SIL and SLVP have been punished by news of this dividend cut. Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL), a top-10 holding in both ETFs, previously reduced its payout. Earlier this year, Silver Wheaton, the largest holding in both funds, readjusted its dividend policy.
Silver Wheaton now calculates its dividend using 20% of cash flow from the previous four quarters rather than using just the previous quarter’s cash flow. The stock is 22% of SLVP’s weight.
Global X Silver Miners ETF
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post.