Launched on 05/29/2013, the SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF (WDIV) is a smart beta exchange traded fund offering broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market.

What Are Smart Beta ETFs?

For a long time now, the ETF industry has been flooded with products based on market capitalization weighted indexes, which are designed to represent the broader market or a particular market segment.

Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.

But, there are some investors who would rather invest in smart beta funds; these funds track non-cap weighted strategies, and are a strong option for those who prefer choosing great stocks in order to beat the market.

Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.

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

The fund is managed by State Street Global Advisors, and has been able to amass over $206.34 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the World ETFs. WDIV, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats Index.

The S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats Index measures the performance of high dividend-yield companies included in the S&P Global BMI that have followed a managed-dividends policy of increasing or stable dividends for at least ten consecutive years.

Cost & Other Expenses

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.40% for WDIV, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 4.37%.

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.

When you look at individual holdings, Altria Group Inc (MO) accounts for about 2.58% of the fund's total assets, followed by Highwoods Properties Inc (HIW) and Solvay Sa (SOLB).

The top 10 holdings account for about 18.64% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF has added roughly 13.89% and it's up approximately 27.52% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 10/01/2024), respectively. WDIV has traded between $52.34 and $67.03 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.83 and standard deviation of 13.55% for the trailing three-year period, making it a low risk choice in the space. With about 121 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the World ETFs segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.

IShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI) tracks MSCI All Country World Index and the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) tracks FTSE Global All Cap Index. IShares MSCI ACWI ETF has $19.35 billion in assets, Vanguard Total World Stock ETF has $40.26 billion. ACWI has an expense ratio of 0.32% and VT charges 0.07%.

Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the World ETFs.

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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SPDR S&P Global Dividend ETF (WDIV): ETF Research Reports

Highwoods Properties, Inc. (HIW) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Altria Group, Inc. (MO) : Free Stock Analysis Report

iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI): ETF Research Reports

Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT): ETF Research Reports

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