While the market’s Tuesday sell-off left much to be desired, one typically overlooked corner reached new heights. Despite ending the session modestly down, the SPDR S & P Dividend ETF (SDY) touched a new all-time high on Tuesday. It was able to sidestep a lot of the selling pressure faced by the S & P 500 , which slid more than 2%. The broad market index also wobbled during Wednesday’s session. This fund tracks the S & P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index, which is made up of companies that have raised their dividend for at least 20 years in a row. The idea is to provide exposure to names that have both capital growth and dividend income qualities, according to State Street Global Advisors Funds Management , the exchange-traded fund’s administrator. It charges 0.35% in fees. The fund has gained just under 12% year to date, underperforming the S & P 500 ‘s advance of around 16% during the same period. That follows a trend of lagging when looking at return, as the ETF ended slightly below flat in 2023 despite the S & P 500’s big rally. SDY .SPX YTD mountain SDY vs S & P 500 in 2024 However, because the fund focuses on stocks that consistently provide dividends, that performance does not tell the whole story of what investors get. This can explain why the fund is in the top 15% of midcap value offerings for 2024 despite seeing muted returns, per Morningstar. The fund has seen mixed performance in recent years by Morningstar’s rankings. It performed better than just 2% of similar funds in 2023 but was in the top 7% during 2022’s sell-off. Given its outperformance during 2022’s rocky trading, it may be a smart place for investors to look if Tuesday’s drop proves to be a harbinger of more difficulties to come. It has also done well over the longer term, coming within the top 6% of comparable funds when evaluating the 10-year trailing return. Stocks are weighted by their “indicated yield,” a measure that takes the annualized gross dividend payment per share and divides that by the equity’s price for a share. Weightings are readjusted on a quarterly basis, but components are reviewed just annually for inclusion. The fund had 133 equity holdings as of the end of August, per Morningstar. Here are the five largest, along with their weighting and year-to-date performance.
