Northern Trust Quality Dividend Defensive ETF
$89.76−0.70 (−0.78%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.40%
- Fund size
- $553M
- 1Y return
- +15.6%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 1.57%
- Holdings
- 158
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $90.65
- 52W range
The ETF.net QDEF Grade
Score 54 of 100 sits in the C band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.DScore 38Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.BScore 67Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.AScore 73Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.BScore 56Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 43Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 58Category rank
Our read on QDEF
CMost dividend funds chase yield. QDEF screens US stocks for quality and income, then deliberately aims for lower beta than its parent index. Northern Trust's version of a dividend sleeve built to flinch less.
The fund provides exposure to a high-quality, income-oriented portfolio of long-only U.S. equity securities, emphasizing long-term capital growth and a defensive beta relative to its parent index.
Why people hold it
- The defensive part is in the mandate, not the marketing: it targets a lower beta than its parent index while holding long-only, income-oriented US equities.flexshares.com
- Screens on profitability and quality, so dividends come from companies that earn them rather than from whatever is yielding most today.flexshares.com
- Live since 2012 and through multiple market cycles, tracking a named Northern Trust index with a published rulebook. Pays quarterly.
- Roughly 140 names: tight enough for the quality screen to actually show up in the portfolio, wide enough to avoid single-stock drama.
Worth knowing
- At 0.40% a year, it costs several times the giants of the dividend aisle (VIG 0.04%, SCHD 0.06%, DGRO 0.08%). You pay for the defensive overlay.
- Thinly traded compared with the category's household names, so limit orders matter and spreads can widen when markets get jumpy.
- A below-market beta target cuts both ways by design: the same dial that softens drawdowns also mutes participation in high-beta rallies.
QDEF Holdings
- Stocks
- 158
- 36%
- AAPL
Sectors
- Technology36.2%
- Financials11.8%
- Health Care10.8%
- Consumer Discr.7.4%
- Cons. Staples7.0%
- Industrials6.8%
- Communication6.1%
- Energy4.6%
- Materials3.7%
- Real Estate3.1%
- Utilities2.5%
Geography
- United States97.48%
- Ireland1.19%
- Canada0.70%
- Bermuda0.49%
- United Kingdom0.14%
QDEF Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | QDEF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +12.8% |
| 1 month | −0.4% |
| 3 months | +5.2% |
| 1 year | +15.6% |
| 3 years | +20.5% |
| 5 years | +13.1% |
| 10 years | +12.3% |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | QDEF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +12.8% | |
| 2025 | +17.4% | |
| 2024 | +21.2% | |
| 2023 | +17.5% | |
| 2022 | −10.9% | |
| 2021 | +26.1% | |
| 2020 | +3.2% |
QDEF in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on QDEF yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
QDEF Dividends
- 1.57%
- $1.42
- $0.34 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 2026 | Pays Sep 24, 2026 | $0.34 |
| Jun 18, 2026 | Jun 25, 2026 | $0.34 |
| Mar 20, 2026 | Mar 26, 2026 | $0.20 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Dec 26, 2025 | $0.54 |
| Sep 19, 2025 | Sep 25, 2025 | $0.32 |
| Jun 20, 2025 | Jun 26, 2025 | $0.34 |
| Mar 21, 2025 | Mar 27, 2025 | $0.21 |
| Dec 20, 2024 | Dec 27, 2024 | $0.45 |
| Sep 20, 2024 | Sep 26, 2024 | $0.33 |
| Jun 21, 2024 | Jun 27, 2024 | $0.34 |
| Mar 15, 2024 | Mar 21, 2024 | $0.18 |
| Dec 15, 2023 | Dec 21, 2023 | $0.46 |
QDEF Risk
- 10.6%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- 1.27
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −21.4%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.83
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
QDEF Cost
- The middle half of US Dividend Index funds
- Median 0.38%
32 of the 52 US Dividend Index funds charge less.