Best ETFs
Schwab's dividend ETF returned 22.8% in a year. Its income rate still trails a one-month bill.
State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF
$46.07+0.09 (+0.20%)
- 0.07%
- $7.1B
- +12.9%
- 4.48%
- 1M sh
- $45.77
- low $41.87high $50.90
The ETF.net SPYD Grade
A
Score 77 out of 100
- 5 of 53
Score 77 of 100 falls in the A band. A is 70 or higher, B 55 to under 70, C 40 to under 55, D 25 to under 40, F under 25.
Cost
The fund’s net expense ratio, ranked against its category.A88 out of 100Rank 6 of 53Mission
Whether the fund did what it promised, tested against its stated mandate.A88 out of 100Rank 13 of 50Risk
How the fund held up when markets fell: downside volatility, drawdowns and tail loss.D29 out of 100Rank 45 of 53Tradability
How easy the fund is to trade: daily volume, and how far its price strays from net asset value.A91 out of 100Rank 3 of 53Holdings
How concentrated the fund is, and how complete and current its disclosed holdings are.A75 out of 100Rank 11 of 53Durability
Whether the fund is likely to stay open, judged by its age, its assets and its issuer’s assets.A83 out of 100Rank 5 of 53
Our read on SPYD
AMost dividend ETFs hunt for companies that keep raising payouts. SPYD skips the courtship and goes straight for the yield: roughly 80 high-dividend names out of the S&P 500, for 0.07% a year.
The fund seeks to provide returns that generally correspond to the total return of the S&P 500 High Dividend Index before fees and expenses.
Why people hold it
- 0.07% a year against a 0.39% median across dividend-screen peers. It undercuts DGRO's 0.08% and sits a hair above SCHD.
- A pure yield screen, not a growth screen. Where VIG and DGRO buy payout raisers, SPYD takes the high-dividend end of the S&P 500. Different flavor of the same food group.
- Running since 2015, now a multi-billion-dollar fund and one of the more actively traded names in its cohort, so getting in and out is rarely the hard part.
- Pays quarterly and has tracked the S&P 500 High Dividend Index closely, which is the whole job for a fund like this.
Worth knowing
- About 80 stocks is a narrow slice. Screening on yield pulls the sector mix away from the broad S&P 500, and the ride can be bumpier than the index it comes from.
- A high yield is a ranking, not a promise. The index sorts on payout size, not on how reliably a company has grown or defended that payout.
SPYD Holdings
- Stocks
- 81
- 16%
- ACN
Sectors
- Real Estate24.6%
- Consumer Staples14.0%
- Financials12.6%
- Utilities10.8%
- Consumer Discretionary9.0%
- Technology6.1%
- Communication5.5%
- Energy5.4%
- Health Care4.5%
- Materials3.8%
- Industrials3.8%
Geography
- United States92.53%
- Ireland4.80%
- Switzerland1.34%
- United Kingdom1.34%
SPYD Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
SPYD$11,290
Returns run to the Oct 12, 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 | SPYD |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +9.8% |
| 1 month | −4.1% |
| 3 months | −3.8% |
| 1 year | +12.9% |
| 3 years | +15.0% |
| 5 years | +7.5% |
| 10 years | +8.1% |
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 | SPYD |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +9.8% | |
| 2025 | +4.6% | |
| 2024 | +15.3% | |
| 2023 | +4.0% | |
| 2022 | −1.1% | |
| 2021 | +32.8% | |
| 2020 | −11.5% |
SPYD in the news
SPYD Dividends
- 4.48%
- $2.06
- $0.52 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
SPYD Risk
- 14.3%
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.
- 0.68
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.
- −22.2%
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.
- 0.64
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
SPYD Cost
0.07%
SPYD0.07%
- The middle half of US Dividend Index funds
- Median 0.38%
5 of the 52 US Dividend Index funds charge less.
Other funds in US Dividend Index
- AVIGVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETFExpense ratio 0.04%1 year return +14.7%
- ADIVBiShares Core Dividend ETFExpense ratio 0.05%1 year return +34.6%
- ADLNWisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend FundExpense ratio 0.28%1 year return +18.9%
- ADTDWisdomTree U.S. Total Dividend FundExpense ratio 0.28%1 year return +18.5%
- AFDVVFidelity High Dividend ETF Expense ratio 0.15%1 year return +16.6%