DLN vs VIG

DLNAWisdomTree U.S. LargeCap Dividend Fund

VIGAVanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

In short

DLN Most dividend funds sort by yield or by streaks of raises. DLN sorts by dollars: the more cash a company is projected to pay out, the bigger its weight. Roughly 300 US large caps, dividend-weighted since 2006, paid out monthly.

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

DLN The Fund seeks to track the investment results of dividend-paying large-cap 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

• DLN Weights holdings by projected cash dividends, not yield, so the biggest actual payers get the biggest slice. A different sort order than most large-cap dividend funds.sec.gov
• At 0.28% a year, it undercuts the typical fund in its dividend-screen peer group, where the median runs 0.39%.
• Pays monthly rather than quarterly, and has run the same dividend-weighted playbook since its 2006 launch.
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that stays close to its stated index, and one of the stronger implementations in the US dividend-screen group.

• 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

• DLN Cheap for its cohort, not cheap outright: VIG, SCHD and DGRO all charge under a tenth of a percent.
• Dividend dollars drive the weights, so the largest payers dominate. No dividend-growth-streak or quality screen sits behind the weighting.sec.gov
• Weights are set once a year at the index measurement date, so between resets the mix drifts with share prices.sec.gov

• 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 DLN profile⁠

Full VIG profile⁠