Exchange traded funds began their journey slowly and over the past half decade have exploded into popular consciousness – and more importantly retail investor portfolios.
The story of course in surpassing the hedge fund industry in AUM are the ETFs themselves. However, the market has been paying special attention to a provider of ETFs lately. WisdomTree Investments, a New-York based ETF product sponsor and asset manager, has been a popular trade of late as the currency-hedging and dividend strategies they deploy have developed a loyal following.
Why? Surinder Thind, an analyst at Jeffries, explains “The headwinds from recent macro volatility are transitory and provide an attractive entry point for WETF not seen in a year. Long-term fundamentals remain intact as expectations for a stronger USD on divergent global central bank policies will continue to drive outsized growth in currency hedged products. Concern around recent insider sales is a non-event, and the potential of the company’s suite of rising rate products remains underappreciated. Reiterate Buy.”
The Fed congregated today and produced more speculation, but the outlook hasn’t changed. With so much uncertainty in the markets there is a demand for products that neutralize the effects of currency fluctuations and raising rates.
WisdomTree’s most popular ETFs by far have been the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEarca: HEDJ) and WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEarca: DXJ). The performance of the ETFs this year has been remarkable – despite the volatility and pullback they have gained 16.5% and 21.1% respectively.
The performance of current ETFs and macro headwinds have been a boost to WisdomTree but a recent product announcement could shift things further.
The independent rises of smart-beta ETFs and currency-hedged products have been a revolution within the space. Investors are capturing more returns by quantitatively leveraging factors in their favor. WisdomTree recently disclosed that they will be the first to combine the two approaches and attempt to increase investor yield by timing currency hedges to minimize loss and maximize gain. (Smart-Beta Currency-Hedged ETFs)
The overall trajectory of WisdomTree can be applied to the growth of ETFs as an investment vehicle. The market will continue to demand new and innovative ways to capture more returns. ETFs are in a great position to be the way they get that done.
WisdomTree recently announced dividends, which you can find below, if you’d like to see how their finds are performing.
| Ticker | Fund Name | Ex-date | Record Date |
Pay Date | Ordinary Income |
Short Term Capital Gains |
Long Term Capital Gains |
Total Rate Per Share |
||||||||
| DTD | WisdomTree Total Dividend Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.17000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.17000 | ||||
| DLN | WisdomTree LargeCap Dividend Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.17000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.17000 | ||||
| DON | WisdomTree MidCap Dividend Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.12000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.12000 | ||||
| DES | WisdomTree SmallCap Dividend Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.11000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.11000 | ||||
| DHS | WisdomTree High Dividend Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.21500 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.21500 | ||||
| DTN | WisdomTree Dividend ex-Financials Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.17063 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.17063 | ||||
| DGRW | WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.02931 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.02931 | ||||
| DGRS | WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Quality Dividend Growth Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.04000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.04000 | ||||
| ELD | WisdomTree Emerging Markets Local Debt Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.14500 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.14500 | ||||
| ALD | WisdomTree Asia Local Debt Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.09000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.09000 | ||||
| AUNZ | WisdomTree Australia & New Zealand Debt Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.03500 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.03500 | ||||
| EMCB | WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.25500 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.25500 | ||||
| AGND | WisdomTree Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Negative Duration Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.07000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.07000 | ||||
| AGZD | WisdomTree Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Zero Duration Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.07000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.07000 | ||||
| HYND | WisdomTree BofA Merrill Lynch High Yield Bond Negative Duration Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.07500 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.07500 | ||||
| HYZD | WisdomTree BofA Merrill Lynch High Yield Bond Zero Duration Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.07500 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.07500 | ||||
| USFR | WisdomTree Bloomberg Floating Rate Treasury Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | ||||
| CRDT | WisdomTree Strategic Corporate Bond Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.20000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.20000 | ||||
| UBND | WisdomTree Western Asset Unconstrained Bond Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.17000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.17000 | ||||
| AGGY | WisdomTree Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Enhanced Yield Fund | 10/26/2015 | 10/28/2015 | 10/30/2015 | $ | 0.12000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.00000 | $ | 0.12000 | ||||