Northern Trust Quality Dividend ETF
$90.73−0.68 (−0.74%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.40%
- Fund size
- $2.2B
- 1Y return
- +17.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 1.50%
- Holdings
- 144
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $91.53
- 52W range
The ETF.net QDF Grade
Score 53 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 68Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 46Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 70Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.DScore 38Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 68Category rank
Our read on QDF
CMost dividend funds sort by yield and hope. QDF scores dividend quality first (profitability, management, cash flow), then targets market-like beta versus its parent large/mid-cap index, so the income tilt doesn't drift defensive.
The fund seeks to track the Northern Trust Quality Dividend Index before fees and expenses. Its strategy uses a quality-focused dividend approach intended to pursue income and total return through U.S. equity securities.
Why people hold it
- Selects on a Dividend Quality Score built from expected dividend payment plus profitability, management and cash flow, aiming at payouts that hold up rather than the fattest ones on the screen.flexshares.com
- The index targets beta similar to the Northern Trust 1250 parent index of US large and mid caps, so the quality-dividend tilt is designed to keep market-like sensitivity, not go quietly defensive.flexshares.comsec.gov
- Running since 2012, a $1B-$5B fund of about 120 names paying quarterly, and it absorbed its higher-beta sibling QDYN in 2023 to become the lineup's single US quality-dividend book.sec.gov
Worth knowing
- At 0.40% it costs multiples of the cohort's cheap giants (VIG 0.04%, SCHD 0.06%, DGRO 0.08%), so the quality screen carries a fee gap to work against.
- Trades thinly next to the category's household names, so spreads can widen around the open and close.
- Uses representative sampling instead of holding the full index and may run more than 25% in one industry, both of which can move results away from the index.flexshares.com
QDF Holdings
- Stocks
- 144
- 39%
- AAPL
Sectors
- Technology38.1%
- Financials15.2%
- Industrials9.7%
- Health Care9.6%
- Consumer Discr.7.6%
- Communication5.9%
- Cons. Staples5.6%
- Real Estate4.8%
- Materials1.8%
- Energy1.1%
- Utilities0.7%
Geography
- United States97.88%
- Ireland1.45%
- Sweden0.50%
- Bermuda0.17%
QDF 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 | QDF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +14.3% |
| 1 month | −0.5% |
| 3 months | +2.8% |
| 1 year | +17.2% |
| 3 years | +19.9% |
| 5 years | +12.3% |
| 10 years | +12.0% |
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 | QDF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +14.3% | |
| 2025 | +16.6% | |
| 2024 | +16.9% | |
| 2023 | +19.7% | |
| 2022 | −12.1% | |
| 2021 | +26.7% | |
| 2020 | +4.9% |
QDF in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on QDF yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
QDF Dividends
- 1.50%
- $1.37
- $0.35 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 2026 | Pays Sep 24, 2026 | $0.35 |
| Jun 18, 2026 | Jun 25, 2026 | $0.36 |
| Mar 20, 2026 | Mar 26, 2026 | $0.20 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Dec 26, 2025 | $0.47 |
| Sep 19, 2025 | Sep 25, 2025 | $0.32 |
| Jun 20, 2025 | Jun 26, 2025 | $0.35 |
| Mar 21, 2025 | Mar 27, 2025 | $0.19 |
| Dec 20, 2024 | Dec 27, 2024 | $0.48 |
| Sep 20, 2024 | Sep 26, 2024 | $0.34 |
| Jun 21, 2024 | Jun 27, 2024 | $0.34 |
| Mar 15, 2024 | Mar 21, 2024 | $0.19 |
| Dec 15, 2023 | Dec 21, 2023 | $0.45 |
QDF Risk
- 12.0%
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.
- 1.06
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.
- −22.1%
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.
- 0.92
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
QDF Cost
- The middle half of US Dividend Index funds
- Median 0.38%
32 of the 52 US Dividend Index funds charge less.