Yahoo Finance Is FlexShares International Quality Dividend ETF (IQDF) a Strong ETF Right Now?
The FlexShares International Quality Dividend ETF (IQDF) made its debut on 04/12/2013, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the World ETFs category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
IQDF is managed by Flexshares, and this fund has amassed over $551.55 million, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the World ETFs. IQDF seeks to match the performance of the Northern Trust International Quality Dividend Index before fees and expenses.
The Northern Trust International Quality Dividend Index is designed to provide exposure to a high-quality income-oriented portfolio of long-only international securities issued by non-U.S.-based companies, with an emphasis on long-term capital growth and a targeted overall beta that is similar to that of the Northern Trust International Large Cap Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.47% for IQDF, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 4.67%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
When you look at individual holdings, Royal Bank Of Canada Common Stock Cad 0 (RY) accounts for about 2.74% of the fund's total assets, followed by Novo Nordisk A/s Common Stock Dkk 0.2 (NOVOb.CO) and Bhp Group Ltd (BHP).
IQDF's top 10 holdings account for about 19.62% of its total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 8.02% and was up about 0.43% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 06/05/2023), respectively. IQDF has traded between $17.72 and $23.05 during this last 52-week period.
IQDF has a beta of 0.86 and standard deviation of 16.31% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 280 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
FlexShares International Quality Dividend ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the World ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
FlexShares International Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (IQDE) tracks Northern Trust International Quality Dividend Defensive Index and the FlexShares International Quality Dividend Dynamic ETF (IQDY) tracks Northern Trust International Quality Dividend Dynamic Index. FlexShares International Quality Dividend Defensive ETF has $30.29 million in assets, FlexShares International Quality Dividend Dynamic ETF has $108.83 million. IQDE has an expense ratio of 0.47% and IQDY charges 0.47%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the World ETFs.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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FlexShares International Quality Dividend ETF (IQDF): ETF Research Reports
BHP Group Limited Sponsored ADR (BHP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Royal Bank Of Canada (RY) : Free Stock Analysis Report
FlexShares International Quality Dividend Dynamic ETF (IQDY): ETF Research Reports
FlexShares International Quality Dividend Defensive ETF (IQDE): ETF Research Reports
