The WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend ETF (DHS) was launched on 06/16/2006, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Market cap weighted indexes were created to reflect the market, or a specific segment of the market, and the ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on this strategy.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
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.
This kind of index follows this same mindset, as it attempts to pick stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance; non-cap weighted strategies base selection on certain fundamental characteristics, or a mix of such characteristics.
The smart beta space gives investors many different choices, from equal-weighting, one of the simplest strategies, to more complicated ones like fundamental and volatility/momentum based weighting. However, not all of these methodologies have been able to deliver remarkable returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is managed by Wisdomtree, and has been able to amass over $1.51 billion, which makes it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. DHS seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index before fees and expenses.
The WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend Index is a fundamentally weighted index that measures the performance of companies with high dividend yields selected from the WisdomTree Dividend Index.
Cost & Other Expenses
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.
Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.38% for this ETF, which makes it on par with most peer products in the space.
The fund has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 3.18%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Financials sector - about 22.8% of the portfolio. Consumer Staples and Healthcare round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Altria Group Inc (MO) accounts for about 4.99% of the fund's total assets, followed by Abbvie Inc (ABBV) and Merck & Co Inc/nj (MRK).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 35.97% of DHS's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 13.71% so far this year and is up about 19.93% in the last one year (as of 07/15/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $96.42 and $115.64
The fund has a beta of 0.59 and standard deviation of 12.35% for the trailing three-year period, which makes DHS a medium risk choice in this particular space. With about 325 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index and the Vanguard Value Index Fund ETF Shares (VTV) tracks CRSP U.S. Large Cap Value Index. Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF has $98.01 billion in assets, Vanguard Value Index Fund ETF Shares has $186.63 billion. SCHD has an expense ratio of 0.06% and VTV changes 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Value
Bottom Line
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WisdomTree U.S. High Dividend ETF (DHS): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).