State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF
$39.83−0.70 (−1.74%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.08%
- Fund size
- $20.9B
- 1Y return
- −2.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 2.99%
- Holdings
- 31
- Volume · 30D
- 20.4M sh
- NAV per share
- $40.64
- 52W range
The ETF.net XLU Grade
Score 74 of 100 sits in the A 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.AScore 90Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 87Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 28Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 95Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.DScore 36Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 76Category rank
Our read on XLU
AOne of the original sector ETFs (1998), XLU is the plain way to own the S&P 500's utilities: roughly 30 electric, gas and water names, eight basis points a year, and one of the deepest trading markets in the category.
The fund seeks to track, before expenses, the price and yield performance of the Utilities Select Sector Index.
Why people hold it
- 0.08% a year, against a utilities-fund median closer to 0.37%. Only FUTY matches it; VPU sits a basis point behind.
- Among the most actively traded funds in its category, with a market that has been running since 1998.
- A straight index build: it holds the utilities slice of the S&P 500 and tracks that index closely. Pays quarterly.ssga.com
- Cheap, liquid and tightly run, it stands among the strongest implementations in the broad utilities group.
Worth knowing
- About 30 names, all S&P 500 members. The largest utilities carry real weight, and mid and small caps sit outside the mandate; FUTY and VPU cast a wider net.ssga.com
- One sector, one country. It moves with US utilities rather than the broad market, and that concentration cuts both ways.
- Cash lands quarterly, not monthly, which matters if you are timing income.
XLU Holdings
- Stocks
- 31
- 58%
- NEE
Sectors
- Utilities100.0%
Geography
- United States100.00%
XLU Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
XLU$9,785
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 | XLU |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −3.1% |
| 1 month | −4.5% |
| 3 months | −8.7% |
| 1 year | −2.2% |
| 3 years | +11.9% |
| 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 | XLU |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −3.1% | |
| 2025 | +16.0% | |
| 2024 | +23.3% | |
| 2023 | −7.2% | |
| 2022 | +1.4% | |
| 2021 | +17.7% | |
| 2020 | +0.6% |
XLU in the news
XLU Dividends
- 2.99%
- $1.21
- $0.30 per share
- Quarterly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 21, 2026 | Pays Sep 23, 2026 | $0.30 |
| Jun 22, 2026 | Jun 24, 2026 | $0.28 |
| Mar 23, 2026 | Mar 25, 2026 | $0.31 |
| Dec 22, 2025 | Dec 24, 2025 | $0.32 |
| Sep 22, 2025 | Sep 24, 2025 | $0.28 |
| Jun 23, 2025 | Jun 25, 2025 | $0.28 |
| Mar 24, 2025 | Mar 26, 2025 | $0.28 |
| Dec 23, 2024 | Dec 26, 2024 | $0.31 |
| Sep 23, 2024 | Sep 25, 2024 | $0.27 |
| Jun 24, 2024 | Jun 26, 2024 | $0.28 |
| Mar 18, 2024 | Mar 21, 2024 | $0.26 |
| Dec 18, 2023 | Dec 21, 2023 | $0.30 |
XLU Risk
- 15.1%
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.
- 0.63
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.
- −25.3%
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.
- 0.49
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
XLU Cost
0.08%
XLU0.08%
- The middle half of Utilities (Broad) funds
- Median 0.33%
No Utilities (Broad) fund charges less.