DGRO vs FDRR

DGROAiShares Core Dividend Growth ETF

FDRRBFidelity Dividend ETF for Rising Rates

In short

DGRO BlackRock's dividend-growth screen casts a wider net than most: five straight years of raises rather than ten, plus a payout-ratio cap that filters out stretched payers. About 400 US dividend raisers, large through small cap, for 0.08% a year.

FDRR Most dividend funds ignore interest rates. FDRR is built around them: Fidelity's rate-aware spin on dividend equity, running since 2016 and priced at 0.15% a year, well under the typical dividend-screen fund.

Stated mandate

DGRO The fund seeks to follow an index of U.S. equities whose dividends have grown consistently.

FDRR The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Fidelity Dividend Index for Rising Rates.

Why people hold it

• DGRO Costs 0.08% a year, a small fraction of the typical fee among US dividend-screen ETFs.
• The screen has teeth: a qualified dividend, five years of uninterrupted dividend growth, a payout ratio under 75%, and the top decile of yielders cut before the other tests run.ishares.com
• Roughly 400 names across large, mid and small caps, weighted by the dividend dollars each company pays rather than by market cap.ishares.comcib.barclays
• Tracks the Morningstar US Dividend Growth Index about as tightly as this group gets, and it's an actively traded, multi-billion-dollar fund that has run since 2014.

• FDRR 0.15% a year against a roughly 0.39% median for dividend-screen ETFs. You get a rules-based twist most index shops don't sell, at a below-median price.
• The mandate is right there in the index name: the Fidelity Dividend Index for Rising Rates. A dividend basket screened with rate moves in mind, not just the fattest yields on the board.
• About 130 stocks, quarterly distributions, and a live track record back to 2016. This is a seasoned product, not a themed launch chasing a headline.
• Lands in the upper half of a crowded dividend-screen field of roughly 50 funds, with high confidence in the underlying data.

Worth knowing

• DGRO Chopping the highest-yielding decile is deliberate: this is built around payout growth and dividend durability, not the fattest current yield on the shelf.ishares.com
• Only dividend payers qualify, so some of the market's biggest non-paying growth companies sit outside the portfolio by rule.ishares.com
• Income arrives quarterly, not monthly, and this is plain US stock exposure: no buffer, no hedge, full equity risk.

• FDRR Thinly traded next to the category's giants. Spreads deserve a look before you hit the button, especially on larger orders.
• The core dividend heavyweights undercut it on fee: VIG at 0.04%, SCHD at 0.06%, DGRO at 0.08%. The rate screen is what you're paying the difference for.
• A rate-aware screen builds in sector tilts a plain dividend index won't have, so results can drift from the broad dividend crowd in either direction.

Full DGRO profile⁠

Full FDRR profile⁠