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Is FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF (QDF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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The FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF (QDF - Free Report) made its debut on 12/14/2012, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Flexshares, QDF has amassed assets over $1.91 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. Before fees and expenses, QDF seeks to match the performance of the Northern Trust Quality Dividend Index.
The Northern Trust Quality Dividend Index is designed to provide exposure to a high-quality income-oriented portfolio of long-only U.S. equity securities, with an emphasis on long-term capital growth and a targeted overall beta that is similar to that of the Northern Trust 1250 Index and the Index are selected based on expected dividend payment and fundamental factors.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.37% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
QDF's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.92%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Representing 29.50% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Financials and Healthcare round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc Common Stock Usd 0.00001 (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 8.54% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp Common Stock Usd 0.001 (NVDA - Free Report) and Microsoft Corp Common Stock Usd 0.00000625 (MSFT - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 37.59% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF has added roughly 0.44% so far, and it's up approximately 11.32% over the last 12 months (as of 03/04/2025). QDF has traded between $62.12 and $73.87 in this past 52-week period.
QDF has a beta of 0.96 and standard deviation of 15.45% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 147 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT - Free Report) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI - Free Report) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $63.60 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $454.87 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - All Cap Blend.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Is FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF (QDF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
The FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF (QDF - Free Report) made its debut on 12/14/2012, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - All Cap Blend category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Market cap weighted indexes work great for investors who believe in market efficiency. They provide a low-cost, convenient and transparent way of replicating market returns.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
By attempting to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, non-cap weighted indexes are based on certain fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Flexshares, QDF has amassed assets over $1.91 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - All Cap Blend. Before fees and expenses, QDF seeks to match the performance of the Northern Trust Quality Dividend Index.
The Northern Trust Quality Dividend Index is designed to provide exposure to a high-quality income-oriented portfolio of long-only U.S. equity securities, with an emphasis on long-term capital growth and a targeted overall beta that is similar to that of the Northern Trust 1250 Index and the Index are selected based on expected dividend payment and fundamental factors.
Cost & Other Expenses
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.37% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
QDF's 12-month trailing dividend yield is 1.92%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Representing 29.50% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector; Financials and Healthcare round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Apple Inc Common Stock Usd 0.00001 (AAPL - Free Report) accounts for about 8.54% of the fund's total assets, followed by Nvidia Corp Common Stock Usd 0.001 (NVDA - Free Report) and Microsoft Corp Common Stock Usd 0.00000625 (MSFT - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 37.59% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF has added roughly 0.44% so far, and it's up approximately 11.32% over the last 12 months (as of 03/04/2025). QDF has traded between $62.12 and $73.87 in this past 52-week period.
QDF has a beta of 0.96 and standard deviation of 15.45% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 147 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
FlexShares Quality Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - All Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF (ITOT - Free Report) tracks S&P Total Market Index and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI - Free Report) tracks CRSP US Total Market Index. IShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF has $63.60 billion in assets, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF has $454.87 billion. ITOT has an expense ratio of 0.03% and VTI charges 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - All Cap Blend.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.