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A look at the five biggest dividend ETFs and which industries and stocks they have been focusing on.
With interest rates currently at near-zero levels, investors have been putting their money into ever riskier bonds in search of yield. The surge lately in dividends from U.S. corporations - themselves sitting on piles of cash - makes dividend ETFs an increasingly popular source of regular income. But all dividend ETFs are not the same.
According to ETF data prepared by financial data firm Axioma for Institutional Investor, the five largest dividend ETFs by assets (see the table below) each have some significant differences in their approach to securing dividend income.
For starters, the top five ETFs (by assets) are pretty well diversified across a variety of sectors. However, the funds have allocated significantly different weights across a variety of different sectors.