DIVB vs SDVY

DIVBAiShares Core Dividend ETF

SDVYCFirst Trust SMID Cap Rising Dividend Achievers ETF

In short

DIVB Most dividend funds only count the check that hits your account. DIVB's index also counts buybacks, treating a shrinking share count as cash returned to owners, and it charges five basis points to do it.

SDVY Most dividend-growth funds fish in blue-chip waters. SDVY takes the same idea down the size scale: a Nasdaq index of small and mid cap US companies with a record of raising their payouts, run by First Trust since 2017.

Stated mandate

DIVB The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. companies selected for a history of dividend payments and/or share buybacks, providing equity exposure oriented toward income and long-term growth.

SDVY The Fund seeks to provide returns generally corresponding to the price and yield performance of the Nasdaq US Small Mid Cap Rising Dividend Achievers Index before fees and expenses. It normally invests at least 90% of net assets in securities included in that Index.

Why people hold it

• DIVB Five basis points a year, one of the lowest fees in the dividend-screen aisle, where the typical fund charges many times more.
• The Morningstar US Dividend and Buyback Index counts repurchases alongside payouts, so a company buying back stock qualifies even with a modest yield. Roughly 400 US names.
• Sits in the top tier of a large dividend-screen peer group and stays tight to its stated mandate: US dividend payers and buyback machines, nothing exotic.
• A billion-dollar-plus member of the iShares Core lineup, running since 2017 and distributing quarterly.

• SDVY Rising-dividend screening applied where it is uncommon. The heavyweights of this category (SCHD, VIG, DGRO) sit in large caps; SDVY runs the screen across US small and mid caps instead.
• Rules, not hunches. At least 90% of net assets stay in the Nasdaq US Small Mid Cap Rising Dividend Achievers Index, which selects on dividend growth alongside growth and quality traits.
• Spread thin on purpose: roughly 190 holdings, a multi-billion-dollar asset base, and heavy day-to-day trading volume for a small/mid cap strategy. Distributions come quarterly.

Worth knowing

• DIVB Buybacks return value through share count, not cash in your pocket, so the income profile can sit lighter than pure high-yield screens like SPYD.
• Moderately traded rather than a volume heavyweight like SCHD or VIG, so limit orders earn their keep, especially in size.
• All-equity, all-US. Dividends and buybacks soften nothing when the American stock market sells off.

• SDVY Cost is the trade-off: 0.58% a year, above the dividend-screen median, and many times what the large-cap incumbents charge (SCHD 0.06%, VIG 0.04%).
• Smaller companies move harder in both directions, and this fund's ride has been rougher than that of large-cap dividend peers.
• It screens for dividends that are rising, not dividends that are large, so current income here generally runs below what high-yield-focused funds pay.

Full DIVB profile⁠

Full SDVY profile⁠