DFAU vs PLGI: Grades, Fees and Holdings Compared

Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

DFAUANYSE Arca

PL Growth and Income ETF

PLGIDCboe

Overlap

45.2%by weight

Expense ratio

DFAU −1.13pt a year

DFAU0.12%PLGI1.25%

Avg volume · 30D

DFAU 53.4×the volume

DFAU555KPLGI10.4K

DFAU vs PLGI Performance

Dec 31, 2025 – Oct 30, 2026

+12.5%DFAU+0.4%PLGI

Expense ratio: DFAU 0.12%, better; PLGI 1.25%
Fund size: DFAU $12.9B; PLGI $58M
1Y total return: DFAU +13.2%; PLGI No data
Yield (12M): DFAU 0.90%; PLGI No data
Holdings: DFAU 2165; PLGI 82
Avg volume (30D): DFAU 555K sh, better; PLGI 10.4K sh
NAV per share: DFAU $52.28; PLGI $25.48
52W range

ETF.net Grade

Pillar letters and Scores for DFAU, PLGI, with each pillar’s weight
Pillar	DFAU	PLGI
Cost30% weight	A97Higher	F9
Mission25% weight	A83	Not scored
Risk15% weight	B65Higher	C48
Tradability15% weight	A87Higher	D38
Holdings10% weight	A84Higher	A76
Durability5% weight	A91Higher	F24

Rank among US Active Equity funds

How we build Categories ›

Same Category. DFAU and PLGI are both graded against the same 121 US Active Equity funds, so their Grades compare head to head.

US Active Equity⁠

Category · 121 funds

See all 121 ›

DFAU ranks 2nd and PLGI 103rd of 121 funds in the US Active Equity Category.

Rank 1AAVLCAvantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETFScore 87
Rank 2ADFAUDimensional US Core Equity Market ETFScore 86
Rank 3ADFACDimensional US Core Equity 2 ETFScore 85
Rank 98DWBILWBI BullBear Quality 3000 ETFScore 33
Rank 103DPLGIPL Growth and Income ETFScore 32
Rank 104DAIUPFINQ FIRST U.S. Large Cap AI-Managed Equity ETFScore 31

Our read on each fund

ETF.net Research

DFAUADimensional US Core Equity Market ETF

PLGIDPL Growth and Income ETF

In short

DFAU Active management priced like an index fund. Dimensional spreads across roughly 2,400 US stocks, then tilts the weights toward value, profitability and momentum instead of simply mirroring the Russell 3000.

PLGI A boutique swing at growth plus income: 30 to 50 hand-picked US stocks, with options writing layered on for cash flow. Live since December 2025, and priced at the premium end of active equity.

Stated mandate

DFAU Seeks long-term capital appreciation. It uses an integrated research, portfolio-design, management, and trading process to build a broadly diversified portfolio of U.S. companies while balancing long-term return drivers, risk, shorter-term considerations, and trading costs.

PLGI The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and income. It normally invests at least 80% of assets in a combination of growth-company equities and income-producing securities or options.

Why people hold it

DFAU Charges 0.12% a year, well under the 0.65% median for active US equity funds and the cheapest of the top-graded names in its group (AVLC, DFAC, FELC).
Holds roughly 2,400 US companies, so no single name steers the fund. Whole-market coverage, not a concentrated bet.
Active without the stock-picking drama: it leans weights toward value, profitability and momentum, using the Russell 3000 as its reference point rather than a rigid rulebook.
A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its active US equity peer group.

PLGI Concentration is the point: a focused book of 30 to 50 common stocks, any market cap, so individual picks actually move the fund instead of getting diluted.nasdaqtrader.com
Two jobs, one wrapper. At least 80% of assets sit in growth-company equities plus income-producing securities or options, so the income leg is written into the mandate.plgrowthincome.com
Genuinely active, with no index to hug. The adviser picks names and can trade frequently, and the holdings lean toward US-listed issuers.plgrowthincome.com nasdaqtrader.com

Worth knowing

DFAU Those tilts cut both ways: results can drift from a plain Russell 3000 fund for long stretches, in either direction.
No published index behind it. The trade-off for flexibility is that you're buying Dimensional's process, not a public set of rules you can check line by line.
Distributions land quarterly, not monthly, and the mandate is long-term capital appreciation rather than income.

PLGI The price tag is 1.25% a year. Low-cost active peers like DFAU and FELC run under 0.20%, so this strategy carries a much heavier fee load.
Small and thinly traded, with a track record that only starts in December 2025. Limit orders and patience matter more here than with a heavily traded large-cap fund.
Concentration cuts both ways: with only a few dozen names, one stumble lands harder, and calls written on holdings can trim upside when a stock runs.nasdaqtrader.com

Full DFAU profile⁠

Full PLGI profile⁠

DFAU vs PLGI Holdings

How DFAU and PLGI differ

Overlap by weight

45.2%

Shared holdings make up 76.6% of PLGI and 53.5% of DFAU.

Level by level

Holdings61 in both45.2%
Countryby domicile88.2%
Asset classEquity100%

Sector

No Sector split for PLGI.

Country, concentration and asset class

Country by domicile

Country weights in DFAU and PLGI, widest gap first
Country	More in DFAUMore in PLGI	DFAU	PLGI
United States	DFAU +11.2 points	99.3%	88.1%
Brazil	PLGI +3.0 points	0.0%	3.0%
Japan	PLGI +2.4 points	0.0%	2.4%
China	PLGI +2.4 points	0.1%	2.5%
Israel	PLGI +1.4 points	0.0%	1.4%
Netherlands	PLGI +1.4 points	0.0%	1.4%
India	PLGI +0.9 points	0.0%	0.9%
Other countries (8)	DFAU +0.2 points	0.5%	0.3%

Concentration

Weight in the 10 largest Holdings

DFAU33.4%
PLGI36.7%

Securities held

DFAU2,164
PLGI81

Asset class

DFAU: Equity
PLGI: Equity

Holdings

Only in DFAU2,103
In both61
Only in PLGI20

Only in DFAU

2,103 securities, 46.5% of DFAU by weight

Alphabet Inc1.76%
Amgen Inc0.36%
International Business Ma0.36%
Wells Fargo & Co.0.34%
Rtx Corp0.31%
Verizon Communications0.30%
Gilead Sciences Inc0.30%
Kla Corp0.29%
Conocophillips0.28%
Sandisk Corp/De0.27%
Pepsico Inc.0.25%
Amphenol Corp Class A0.25%
Citigroup Inc.0.24%
Analog Devices Inc.0.24%
Western Digital0.24%
Walt Disney Co/The0.22%
Seagate Technology Hold0.21%
Arista Networks Inc0.21%
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.0.21%
Tjx Companies Inc.0.20%
Deere & Co.0.20%
Ge Vernova Llc0.20%
Lockheed Martin Corp.0.20%
Pfizer Inc.0.19%
AT&T Inc.0.19%
Travelers Companies Inc.0.19%
Eog Resources Inc.0.19%
Phillips 660.19%
BlackRock Funding Inc/De0.18%
Marathon Petroleum Corp.0.18%
Progressive Corp0.18%
Accenture PLC0.17%
Eaton Corp PLC0.17%
The Charles Schwab Corp.0.17%
Valero Energy Corp0.17%
General Motors0.17%
Csx Corp0.17%
Johnson Controls Intl0.17%
Hewlett-Packard Enterpris0.16%
Danaher Corp.0.16%
3M Co.0.16%
Intercontinental Exchange0.16%
S&P Global Inc0.16%
Royal Caribbean Cruises0.16%
Chubb Limited0.15%
Motorola Solutions Inc.0.15%
Synopsys Inc0.15%
Emerson Elec Co0.15%
Medtronic PLC0.15%
Slb Ltd0.15%

Only in PLGI

20 securities, 25.9% of PLGI by weight

Invesco Bulletshares 20273.34%
Mercadolibre Inc3.04%
Yum China Holdings Inc2.54%
Toyota Motor Corp -Spon Adr2.50%
Ishares Broad USD High Yield Corpo2.29%
Ishares Ibonds 2031 Term Hig CL11.70%
iShares iBonds 2027 Term High Yield and Income ETF1.52%
Rareview Government Money1.51%
Ing Groep N.v.-Sponsored Adr1.34%
Ishares Ibonds 2032 Term1.15%
Vanguard High-Yield Activ1.06%
Ishares Ibonds Dec 2026 Term0.97%
Hdfc Bank Ltd-Adr0.93%
Invesco Bulletshares 20260.46%
Space Exploration Tech Corp A0.43%
Equinor Asa-Spon Adr0.33%
Prologis Inc0.30%
Ishares Ibonds 2030 Term Hig CL10.28%
Nice Ltd - Spon Adr0.16%
Ishares Ibonds 2026 Term Hig CL10.03%

Weight gaps

All 61 Holdings in both funds, largest gap first.

Holding weights in DFAU and PLGI, widest gap first
Holding	More in DFAUMore in PLGI	DFAU	PLGI
Microsoft CorpMSFT	DFAU +4.02 points	5.62%	1.60%
Apple Inc.AAPL	DFAU +3.21 points	7.10%	3.89%
Alphabet Inc - Class AGOOGL	PLGI +3.04 points	2.14%	5.18%
Tesla IncTSLA	PLGI +1.48 points	1.35%	2.83%
Ingredion IncINGR	PLGI +1.30 points	0.01%	1.31%
Amazon.com Inc.AMZN	PLGI +1.21 points	3.14%	4.35%
Berkshire Hathaway Cl-BBRK.B	PLGI +1.18 points	1.15%	2.33%
Pinterest IncPINS	PLGI +1.16 points	0.01%	1.17%
Eli Lilly and CompanyLLY	PLGI +1.06 points	1.45%	2.51%
Keurig Dr Pepper IncKDP	PLGI +0.99 points	0.07%	1.07%
Walmart Inc.WMT	PLGI +0.99 points	0.68%	1.67%
Costco Wholesale Corp.COST	PLGI +0.85 points	0.48%	1.33%
Meta Platforms IncMETA	PLGI +0.81 points	1.78%	2.59%
Intel CorpINTC	PLGI +0.80 points	0.48%	1.28%
Broadcom IncAVGO	PLGI +0.73 points	2.04%	2.77%
Thermo Fisher Scientific.TMO	PLGI +0.71 points	0.27%	0.98%
Palo Alto Networks IncPANW	PLGI +0.65 points	0.20%	0.85%
NVIDIA CorpNVDA	DFAU +0.59 points	6.79%	6.20%
Leidos HoldingsLDOS	PLGI +0.59 points	0.04%	0.63%
Johnson & JohnsonJNJ	PLGI +0.58 points	0.78%	1.36%
JPMorgan Chase & CoJPM	PLGI +0.58 points	1.21%	1.79%
Philip Morris IntlPM	PLGI +0.53 points	0.37%	0.90%
Allstate Corp.ALL	PLGI +0.53 points	0.15%	0.68%
Caterpillar Inc.CAT	PLGI +0.53 points	0.35%	0.88%
Palantir Technologies IncPLTR	PLGI +0.50 points	0.40%	0.90%
Advanced Micro DevicesAMD	PLGI +0.50 points	1.02%	1.52%
General Electric CompanyGE	PLGI +0.50 points	0.38%	0.88%
Exxonmobil Holdings CorpXOM	PLGI +0.47 points	1.07%	1.54%
UnitedHealth Group Inc.UNH	PLGI +0.46 points	0.40%	0.86%
Oracle Corp.ORCL	PLGI +0.44 points	0.38%	0.82%
Micron Technology Inc.MU	PLGI +0.44 points	1.62%	2.06%
Dell Technologies IncDELL	PLGI +0.42 points	0.17%	0.59%
Procter & Gamble Co/ThePG	PLGI +0.41 points	0.52%	0.93%
Merck & Company IncMRK	PLGI +0.40 points	0.53%	0.93%
Nextera Energy IncNEE	PLGI +0.38 points	0.20%	0.58%
Coca Cola Co.KO	PLGI +0.38 points	0.46%	0.84%
Applied Materials Inc.AMAT	PLGI +0.37 points	0.39%	0.76%
Morgan StanleyMS	PLGI +0.37 points	0.29%	0.66%
Netflix.com Inc.NFLX	PLGI +0.35 points	0.24%	0.59%
Salesforce IncCRM	PLGI +0.34 points	0.24%	0.58%
Lam Research CorpLRCX	PLGI +0.32 points	0.36%	0.68%
Public Service EntPEG	PLGI +0.32 points	0.06%	0.38%
Delta Air Lines Inc.DAL	PLGI +0.32 points	0.11%	0.43%
Cisco Systems Inc.CSCO	PLGI +0.31 points	0.54%	0.85%
Newmont CorpNEM	PLGI +0.31 points	0.18%	0.49%
American Express Co.AXP	PLGI +0.30 points	0.26%	0.56%
Bank of America CorpBAC	PLGI +0.29 points	0.39%	0.68%
AbbVie Inc.ABBV	PLGI +0.23 points	0.61%	0.84%
Boeing Co/TheBA	PLGI +0.23 points	0.13%	0.36%
Union Pac Corp.UNP	PLGI +0.17 points	0.25%	0.42%
New Linde PLCLIN	PLGI +0.16 points	0.30%	0.46%
Qualcomm Inc.QCOM	DFAU +0.13 points	0.29%	0.16%
Home Depot IncHD	PLGI +0.12 points	0.46%	0.58%
Mastercard Inc - AMA	DFAU +0.12 points	0.69%	0.57%
Chevron Corp.CVX	DFAU +0.12 points	0.56%	0.44%
Intuitive Surgical Inc.ISRG	PLGI +0.10 points	0.14%	0.24%
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.GS	PLGI +0.11 points	0.35%	0.46%
Mcdonald's Corp.MCD	PLGI +0.09 points	0.21%	0.30%
Abbott LaboratoriesABT	PLGI +0.08 points	0.18%	0.26%
Visa IncV	DFAU +0.08 points	0.96%	0.88%
Texas Instruments Inc.TXN	DFAU +0.04 points	0.36%	0.32%

All 2,381 DFAU holdings⁠All 194 PLGI holdings⁠

How we measure overlap

Each holding counts at its smaller weight in the two funds, summed over the full Holdings. Sector, country and asset class use the same rule on each fund’s split. Cash, FX and derivative lines stay out of the counts. Two bond funds get no overlap figure.

DFAU vs PLGI Cost

Overpaying PLGI vs DFAU

$20,095

On $10,000 over 30 years. 7% growth a year before fees, expense ratio only.

DFAU 0.12%
$2,520
PLGI 1.25%
$22,615

Amount$10,000

Years30 years

Cost over time

DFAU 0.12%
PLGI 1.25%
Overpaying

Year by year

Year	DFAU	PLGI	Overpaying
10	$220	$2,181	$1,961
20	$859	$8,105	$7,246
30	$2,520	$22,615	$20,095

Expense ratio

0.12%DFAU, cheaper
1.25%PLGI

DFAU0.12%PLGI1.25%

0.00%2.89%

Middle half of US Active Equity funds
Median 0.68%

DFAU 4th cheapest of 121 funds

PLGI 110th cheapest of 121 funds

DFAU vs PLGI Dividends

Last 12 months to Oct 30, 2026

Yield (12M): DFAU 0.90%; PLGI No data
Payout (12M): DFAU $0.47; PLGI No data
Last payment: DFAU $0.12; PLGI $0.04
Ex-dividend: DFAU Sep 22, 2026; PLGI Sep 24, 2026
Paid on: DFAU Sep 24, 2026; PLGI Sep 25, 2026
Frequency: DFAU Quarterly; PLGI Quarterly

Distribution history

Per share, 2020 to 2026, same scale for both

DFAUQuarterly · 24 paymentsAll DFAU payments⁠

PLGIQuarterly · 3 paymentsAll PLGI payments⁠

DFAU vs PLGI Risk

Fall from peak · 5 years

This chart needs five years of history for both funds.

Risk facts

VolatilityStd dev, 3 years: DFAU 12.4%PLGI No data
Return per unit of riskSharpe ratio, 3 years: DFAU 1.38PLGI No data
Worst fallMax drawdown, 5 years: DFAU −23.6%PLGI No data
Market sensitivityBeta, 5 years: DFAU 1.01PLGI 0.40; Market = 1

Popular comparisons

DFAUAvsAVLCA
Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF · Avantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF
Expense ratio
0.12% · 0.15%
Category
PLGIDvsAVLCA
PL Growth and Income ETF · Avantis U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF
Expense ratio
1.25% · 0.15%
Category
DFAUAvsDFACA
Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF · Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF
Expense ratio
0.12% · 0.17%
Category
PLGIDvsDFACA
PL Growth and Income ETF · Dimensional US Core Equity 2 ETF
Expense ratio
1.25% · 0.17%
Category
DFAUAvsDYNFA
Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF · iShares U.S. Equity Factor Rotation Active ETF
Expense ratio
0.12% · 0.26%
Category
PLGIDvsDYNFA
PL Growth and Income ETF · iShares U.S. Equity Factor Rotation Active ETF
Expense ratio
1.25% · 0.26%
Category