BDVG vs VUS

BDVGCiMGP Berkshire Dividend Growth ETF

VUSBVirtus U.S. Dividend ETF

In short

BDVG Dividend investing by conviction, not by screen: about 30 large-cap US dividend payers, hand-picked and actively managed, priced right at the middle of the active dividend-income pack.

VUS An AI-assisted dividend fund at a passive-fund price. A quant model reads sentiment and valuation, humans make the final call, and it charges 0.25%, less than half the typical active US dividend ETF.

Stated mandate

BDVG The Fund seeks dividend income and long-term capital appreciation.

VUS The Fund seeks current income and, secondarily, long-term capital appreciation.

Why people hold it

• BDVG A tight book of roughly 30 names, all large-cap US companies worth at least $10 billion when first bought. Every position has to earn its slot.
• The 0.55% expense ratio lands exactly at the median for active dividend-income ETFs, so you are not paying a premium for the stock picking.
• Two jobs, stated plainly in the prospectus: dividend income and long-term capital appreciation. Distributions go out quarterly.

• VUS 0.25% a year, under half the 0.55% median for active US dividend ETFs and cheaper than every top-graded name in the cohort (CGDV, HIDV, MBOX, BGIG, TDVG).
• The engine: a proprietary alpha model using AI-powered language processing for sentiment plus valuation factors. Virtus portfolio managers make the final trading calls.sec.gov
• About 90 US-listed dividend payers, with at least 80% of net assets in them. Focused enough for picks to register, wide enough to spread single-name risk.sec.gov

Worth knowing

• BDVG Thinly traded with a small asset base. Spreads can widen, so limit orders do real work here.
• Concentration cuts both ways. With about 30 holdings, one company's dividend decision moves the whole portfolio more than it would in a 400-stock index fund.
• Index-tracking rivals go cheaper: CGDV at 0.33% and HIDV at 0.35% undercut this fund's 0.55%. Also a young fund, launched in 2023, so the record is short.

• VUS Launched December 2025 with a small asset base and light volume, so spreads can run wider than the cohort's household names and live history on the model is short.
• The prospectus lets the fund put more than 15% of assets in a single sector, so the portfolio can lean hard into a few corners of the market.sec.gov
• Income arrives annually or semiannually rather than monthly, so the cash shows up in lumps.

Full BDVG profile⁠

Full VUS profile⁠