DHS vs VIG

DHSBWisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Fund

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

DHS From the shop that made dividend weighting a thing. Since 2006, DHS has ranked US payers by yield, then weighted the survivors by the actual dollars of dividends they pay. Market cap never enters the math.

VIG VIG buys dividend growth, not fat yields: about 300 US companies with a record of raising their payouts, tracked for 0.04% a year. Running since 2006 and now north of $100 billion, it is the plain-vanilla anchor of the dividend-screen aisle.

Stated mandate

DHS The fund seeks to track the investment results of high-dividend-yielding companies in the U.S. equity market.

VIG The fund seeks to track the S&P U.S. Dividend Growers Index, which represents common stocks of companies with a record of increasing dividends over time.

Why people hold it

• DHS Weighting runs on cash dividends paid, tilted by a value, quality and momentum risk score. Big payers get big weights, shaky ones get trimmed.wisdomtree.com
• Only the top 30% of eligible US payers by yield make the cut, and a name stays until it slips out of the top 35%. Deep screen, low churn.sec.gov
• Pays monthly, holds about 400 names, and caps sector weight at the lesser of 25% or 3x the market-cap version so no single yield-heavy sector runs the show.wisdomtree.com
• A 2006 original in the dividend-screen category, now a multi-billion-dollar fund still running the mandate it launched with.

• VIG At 0.04% a year, the fee is roughly a tenth of the typical dividend-screen fund's 0.39%, and undercuts every other top-graded fund in the group, DGRO and SCHD included.
• The screen rewards a record of increasing dividends rather than the biggest current payout, so the basket leans on payout discipline instead of stretched yields.
• Live since 2006, over $100 billion in assets and actively traded, which shows up as easy fills rather than wide spreads.
• About 300 holdings, cash paid quarterly, and one of the strongest overall implementations in its dividend-screen peer group.

Worth knowing

• DHS The 0.38% fee sits at the middle of the dividend-screen pack, but the cheapest peers here (VIG at 0.04%, SCHD at 0.06%) charge a fraction of it.
• Trades thinly next to the category giants, so limit orders matter more here than in a fund that changes hands constantly.
• By design it buys today's highest yielders, not tomorrow's dividend growers. A different flavor of income than growth-screened peers like DGRO.

• VIG Growth of payouts, not maximum income, is the mandate. That puts it on a different axis than high-dividend funds such as SPYD.
• US stocks only, no bonds and no overseas payers, and sector weights are whatever the index screen spits out.
• Portfolio risk and concentration measures land mid-pack for the category: it is fully invested in equities and drops when the market drops.

Full DHS profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠