XDV – iShares Dow Jones Canada Select Dividend Index Fund

Written by Vicky @ Vix Money

XDV, iShares Dow Jones Canada Select Dividend Index Fund, was introduced on December 19th, 2005. This ETF seeks to replicate the 30 highest dividend paying companies in the Dow Jones Canada Select Dividend Index. It is part of a group of ETFs owned by iShares, and, as of June 11th, 2009, is now currently being managed by BlackRock Asset Management Canada Limited. With the recent rebranding of the Claymore ETF family, whom now all trade under the iShares name, iShares is definitely the market leader in the Canadian ETF market.

Which companies are represented in XDV?

When you purchase an ETF like XDV, it is good to know what kind of companies you are investing in, as well as the sectors they do business in. Although it does not guarantee against loss, diversification in your portfolio helps you reach your long-term financial goals while simultaneously minimizing the risk associated with it.

In XDV, the main sectors that are represented are the financial industry, the telecommunications sector, and the oil & gas sector. As of April 5, 2012, over 80% of the fund’s holdings are in these sectors.


The following is a list of the top 10 holdings of the fund (as of April 5, 2012):

CIBC 6.77%
National Bank of Canada 5.95%
TD Bank 5.56%
Bank of Montreal 5.21%
AG Growth International Inc. 5.08%
Bonterra Energy Corp. 4.91%
Royal Bank of Canada 4.50%
Bank of Nova Scotia 4.24%
Telus Corp. 4.13%
IGM Financial Inc. 3.96%

Altogether, the top 10 holdings account for approximately 50% of the fund’s portfolio. As previously mentioned, XDV owns shares in 30 of the highest yielding companies in the Dow Jones Select Dividend Index.

Which ETF to choose?

When making your decision on which ETF to choose, here are a couple things to keep in mind.

Management Expense Ratio (MER)

One of the biggest reasons to build an investment portfolio containing ETFs is that the costs of owning them are much lower, comparatively speaking, than to owning mutual funds in Canada. XDV has a current MER of 0.53%, which is twice as high as XIC‘s MER, but still only about 1/5 of what the average mutual fund MER in Canada is (approximately 2.50%).

Tracking Error and Return

Year XDV Index
2006 15.53 16.07
2007 -0.77 -0.41
2008 -30.84 -30.8
2009 36.9 37.83
2010 12.82 13.32
2011 3.49 4.09

The purpose of XDV, like other index funds, is to replicate the returns of a benchmark index. In this case, XDV is designed to replicate the performance of the Dow Jones Select Dividend Index. Therefore, the primary goal of the fund manager is to minimize the difference between the fund return and the index return. In order to determine how successful a fund manager is in accomplishing this goal, you have to look at the tracking error. Ideally, you want to purchase ETFs that have the lowest tracking error record.

The following shows the annual returns (in percentages) of XDV compared to its benchmark index; you can see that the fund managers have been doing very well in keeping the tracking error low.

ishares-xdv-tracking-error

Dividends

The timing of these dividends varies amongst the different ETF products out there. XIC, for example, pays out their dividends quarterly. XDV, on the other hand, pays out their dividends on a monthly basis.

The most recent distribution paid out in 2012 for XDV was on March 30, 2012 at the rate of 0.069 per share. If you owned 100 shares of XDV on March 23, 2012 (the ex-dividend date), you would have received $6.90 (0.069 x 100 = $6.90) distribution for March.  The current annual distribution per share is 0.77 cents.

Dividend Yield

To compare different ETFs, you may want to compare their dividend yields. This is especially important to those who are seeking dividend yields for an income stream. The current yield for XDV, as of February 29, 2012, is 3.90%. This yield can be found on Yahoo Finance and other financial websites.

To be honest, after doing this post, XDV’s dividend yield definitely stood out for me. For all those dividend investors out there, I definitely see the appeal of this style of investing! 🙂

What do you think readers? Is this ETF already part of your portfolio? If not, would you consider adding it to your current portfolio?

40 thoughts on “XDV – iShares Dow Jones Canada Select Dividend Index Fund”

  1. Great post Vix! I’m trying to make the switch from mutuals to ETFs but having a hard time convincing my wife!! Any tips!?

    • Hey Scott,

      If you are holding any mutual funds from the main banks, you should take a look at what these funds are currently holding. Depending on what kind of funds you are invested in (balanced, etc.) you should find similar companies listed in a couple ETFs as well. Then, you could explain that you are holding basically the same types of companies, but at a fraction of the cost based on the MERs.

      I do find it tough to overcome this hurdle, even with my own clients, as it is so ingrained that these mutual funds being sold by banks are being managed by professionals. They would definitely have your best interest at heart, right? Unfortunately, its not the case.

      Good luck!

  2. Great post Vix! I’m trying to make the switch from mutuals to ETFs but having a hard time convincing my wife!! Any tips!?

    • Hey Scott,

      If you are holding any mutual funds from the main banks, you should take a look at what these funds are currently holding. Depending on what kind of funds you are invested in (balanced, etc.) you should find similar companies listed in a couple ETFs as well. Then, you could explain that you are holding basically the same types of companies, but at a fraction of the cost based on the MERs.

      I do find it tough to overcome this hurdle, even with my own clients, as it is so ingrained that these mutual funds being sold by banks are being managed by professionals. They would definitely have your best interest at heart, right? Unfortunately, its not the case.

      Good luck!

  3. I have been looking at these types of ETFs recently.
    I like XDV, but I think I like XEI more.

    XEI will hold 50 to 75 stocks. XDV will hold 30. (+ XEI has a higher dividend). My last quick check showed that XEI holds ~21 out of the 30 holdings XDV has.

    Both payout monthly.

    Thoughts?

    • @reggie: Quickly looking at XEI shows that it has a similar MER to XDV, a couple more holdings, and distributions may be a bit higher. That being said, I agree with Ninja. These guys are heavily concentrated in specific sectors with emphasis on the yields, so you are definitely increasing the risk factor.

      Although they both look pretty good, neither will make it into my portfolio right now.

      @ninja: Haha, dividend investing is definitely interesting for me, and I will always be on the lookout for good candidates. That being said, I’m still good with my ETFs for the time being. 🙂 But I agree with Mark; if I were to head into the dividend stocks route, I would prefer to own the stocks themselves and avoid the 0.6% in fees!

      Thanks for dropping by! 😉

  4. I have been looking at these types of ETFs recently.
    I like XDV, but I think I like XEI more.

    XEI will hold 50 to 75 stocks. XDV will hold 30. (+ XEI has a higher dividend). My last quick check showed that XEI holds ~21 out of the 30 holdings XDV has.

    Both payout monthly.

    Thoughts?

    • @reggie: Quickly looking at XEI shows that it has a similar MER to XDV, a couple more holdings, and distributions may be a bit higher. That being said, I agree with Ninja. These guys are heavily concentrated in specific sectors with emphasis on the yields, so you are definitely increasing the risk factor.

      Although they both look pretty good, neither will make it into my portfolio right now.

      @ninja: Haha, dividend investing is definitely interesting for me, and I will always be on the lookout for good candidates. That being said, I’m still good with my ETFs for the time being. 🙂 But I agree with Mark; if I were to head into the dividend stocks route, I would prefer to own the stocks themselves and avoid the 0.6% in fees!

      Thanks for dropping by! 😉

  5. You better complement XDV with other sectors, because XDV is overly concentrated in financials. Many complement it with CDZ, although the yield on CDZ is not very high and the tracking error is a bit high I believe (see CouchPotato).

  6. You better complement XDV with other sectors, because XDV is overly concentrated in financials. Many complement it with CDZ, although the yield on CDZ is not very high and the tracking error is a bit high I believe (see CouchPotato).

  7. Peter, yes you are absolutely correct. This ETF is heavily weighted in financials, with at least 36% of the portfolio in banks and insurance. After all, the banks and lifeco’s have the higher yields.

    The real problem I have with this ETF, as well as CDZ and CUD etc. is that these ETFs are weighted by yield. You are getting the higher yield from this ETF becuase higher yielding stocks are given more weight in the portfolio. Generally higher yielding stocks tend to have more volatility, as well as more risk, so you can find with an ETF like this you may not get a smooth ride with the higher yield. I discussed this in-depth with CUD a similar type of ETF:

    http://www.dividendninja.com/claymores-new-dividend-etf-cud

    So Vicky, does that mean you may become a dividend investor after all? ha ha

    Cheers!

  8. Peter, yes you are absolutely correct. This ETF is heavily weighted in financials, with at least 36% of the portfolio in banks and insurance. After all, the banks and lifeco’s have the higher yields.

    The real problem I have with this ETF, as well as CDZ and CUD etc. is that these ETFs are weighted by yield. You are getting the higher yield from this ETF becuase higher yielding stocks are given more weight in the portfolio. Generally higher yielding stocks tend to have more volatility, as well as more risk, so you can find with an ETF like this you may not get a smooth ride with the higher yield. I discussed this in-depth with CUD a similar type of ETF:

    http://www.dividendninja.com/claymores-new-dividend-etf-cud

    So Vicky, does that mean you may become a dividend investor after all? ha ha

    Cheers!

  9. Great post Vicky.

    I like XDV, I think it’s a solid ETF. My only complaint, you have to pay fees with this guy.

    Because it costs close 0.6% in fees each year, I’d rather own the stocks XDV owns…which creates more risk for me, but also more reward if I can keep my emotions in check.

    I’m about halfway there, owning most of XDV, so I pretty much have a proxy of this guy.

    Reggie has an interesting comment about XEI, that looks interesting and the holdings of XEI are solid.

    Keep up the great work Vicky, and all the best Ninja!

    (Back to the Sens Vs. Rangers hockey game, and my beer!)

    Mark

  10. Great post Vicky.

    I like XDV, I think it’s a solid ETF. My only complaint, you have to pay fees with this guy.

    Because it costs close 0.6% in fees each year, I’d rather own the stocks XDV owns…which creates more risk for me, but also more reward if I can keep my emotions in check.

    I’m about halfway there, owning most of XDV, so I pretty much have a proxy of this guy.

    Reggie has an interesting comment about XEI, that looks interesting and the holdings of XEI are solid.

    Keep up the great work Vicky, and all the best Ninja!

    (Back to the Sens Vs. Rangers hockey game, and my beer!)

    Mark

  11. I have iShares-XDV ETF in my portfolio. I am very interested to find out what everybody thinks of iShares-CEW. This has all the Banks in Canada and LifeCo’s as well. Dividend yield of a respectable 4% and average P/E of 11. I am thinking of selling my Great-West and buying iShares-CEW.
    It has DRIP and PACC.
    This is a great forum.

    thanks
    Prasanna

    • Hey Prasanna,

      CEW does have a decent yield, but the expense ratio is a bit higher (for an ETF). The biggest concern for me would be the concentration in financials, as I prefer to have a bit more diversification in my portfolios.

      That being said, selling Great-West and replacing them with CEW would provide you with more diversification. Unfortunately, I’m not too familiar with Great-West as a holding and whether or not it makes sense to sell it. Thoughts, Ninja?

      Thanks for dropping by!

    • Prasanna, if you are selling GWO at a loss then I wouldn’t see the point to sell and dive into this ETF. You would just be selling at loss to buy somehting that may also lose value.

      GWO is one of the better managed lifecos in Canada, however all the lifecos are burdened with low earnings and very heavy debt loads, with increasing dividend yields. GWO has a payout ratio around 50% – that is very reasonable, as is the debt to equity ratio of around 55. Seems solid to me. 😉

      GWO is doing a lot better than SLF or MFC (CEW would give you more exposure to these Lifecos). So selling GWO to dive into CEW doensn’t really make any sense to me, as you will be simply giving yourself additional exposure to lifecos. I’m not giving you advice to hold or sell, just sayin it makes more sense to hold GWO collect the dividend income, and forgoe the MER fees.

      Why not just ad new funds and diversification with a plain vanilla well diversified ETF such as XIC, or XIU for example? If you are going to sell GWO then moving into this type of ETF would make more sense to me, and with the recent market decline all these ETFs are cheaper than they were a month ago. Unless you think CEW is an opportunity play, but that could be a slow turn around.

      Cheers 😉

      • Hi Ninja:
        Yes, you read my situation right. I have a $3,000 loss at the moment with GWO with my book value of about $25K. You make a great point that I will be paying MER fees which I do not now. I think I will take your advise and either consider selling GWO for XIC or hold onto GWO for the dividends. Unfortunately, GWO does not have a DRIP program.

        thanks to Vix Money and Ninja for the comments and advise.
        Prasanna

        • Hi Prasanna, it is actually not within the scope of this blog for me or Vicky to give you specific financial advice on securities mentioned, as per my disclaimer (see link in footer). I’m not trying to offer you specific financial advice, and we cannot be responsible for the investment decisions you make. Therefore I would refer you to your accountant or financial professional, before making an important investment decision such as this one.

          However, do consider that all stocks and sectors have been pumelled with the recent market decline this month. It doesn’t make sense to sell at the bottom only becuase the price is lower – you are still receiving your dividend income, and GWO fundamentals are intact (in my opinion).

          I would only sell a stock because I feel the dividend or company is in jeopardy. A more prudent approach may be to wait until markets correct (whenever that is) and make your decision at that point. Markets go up and down, that is a simple fact.

          What you really need to check is that your asset allocation is within the target percentages you have set, and that GWO or any other security for that matter doesnot make up a large part of your holdings, and skew your overall portfolio.

          Cheers

          • Hi DN:
            I fully understand that I am totally responsible for all investment decisions I make. I read your disclaimer. No issue there.
            You did mention Asset Allocation. I have read about the importance of this but I missed the boat on this. Now I cannot sell anything as most of the similar stocks I have are in loss territory. In fact, I have GWO and MFC in similar amounts. BIG mistake!

            I wonder how many people reading this blog and contributing actually pay close attention to asset allocation. My task now is to try to restructure my portfolio without incurring heavy losses.

            thanks for the contribution.
            Prasanna

  12. I have iShares-XDV ETF in my portfolio. I am very interested to find out what everybody thinks of iShares-CEW. This has all the Banks in Canada and LifeCo’s as well. Dividend yield of a respectable 4% and average P/E of 11. I am thinking of selling my Great-West and buying iShares-CEW.
    It has DRIP and PACC.
    This is a great forum.

    thanks
    Prasanna

    • Hey Prasanna,

      CEW does have a decent yield, but the expense ratio is a bit higher (for an ETF). The biggest concern for me would be the concentration in financials, as I prefer to have a bit more diversification in my portfolios.

      That being said, selling Great-West and replacing them with CEW would provide you with more diversification. Unfortunately, I’m not too familiar with Great-West as a holding and whether or not it makes sense to sell it. Thoughts, Ninja?

      Thanks for dropping by!

    • Prasanna, if you are selling GWO at a loss then I wouldn’t see the point to sell and dive into this ETF. You would just be selling at loss to buy somehting that may also lose value.

      GWO is one of the better managed lifecos in Canada, however all the lifecos are burdened with low earnings and very heavy debt loads, with increasing dividend yields. GWO has a payout ratio around 50% – that is very reasonable, as is the debt to equity ratio of around 55. Seems solid to me. 😉

      GWO is doing a lot better than SLF or MFC (CEW would give you more exposure to these Lifecos). So selling GWO to dive into CEW doensn’t really make any sense to me, as you will be simply giving yourself additional exposure to lifecos. I’m not giving you advice to hold or sell, just sayin it makes more sense to hold GWO collect the dividend income, and forgoe the MER fees.

      Why not just ad new funds and diversification with a plain vanilla well diversified ETF such as XIC, or XIU for example? If you are going to sell GWO then moving into this type of ETF would make more sense to me, and with the recent market decline all these ETFs are cheaper than they were a month ago. Unless you think CEW is an opportunity play, but that could be a slow turn around.

      Cheers 😉

      • Hi Ninja:
        Yes, you read my situation right. I have a $3,000 loss at the moment with GWO with my book value of about $25K. You make a great point that I will be paying MER fees which I do not now. I think I will take your advise and either consider selling GWO for XIC or hold onto GWO for the dividends. Unfortunately, GWO does not have a DRIP program.

        thanks to Vix Money and Ninja for the comments and advise.
        Prasanna

        • Hi Prasanna, it is actually not within the scope of this blog for me or Vicky to give you specific financial advice on securities mentioned, as per my disclaimer (see link in footer). I’m not trying to offer you specific financial advice, and we cannot be responsible for the investment decisions you make. Therefore I would refer you to your accountant or financial professional, before making an important investment decision such as this one.

          However, do consider that all stocks and sectors have been pumelled with the recent market decline this month. It doesn’t make sense to sell at the bottom only becuase the price is lower – you are still receiving your dividend income, and GWO fundamentals are intact (in my opinion).

          I would only sell a stock because I feel the dividend or company is in jeopardy. A more prudent approach may be to wait until markets correct (whenever that is) and make your decision at that point. Markets go up and down, that is a simple fact.

          What you really need to check is that your asset allocation is within the target percentages you have set, and that GWO or any other security for that matter doesnot make up a large part of your holdings, and skew your overall portfolio.

          Cheers

          • Hi DN:
            I fully understand that I am totally responsible for all investment decisions I make. I read your disclaimer. No issue there.
            You did mention Asset Allocation. I have read about the importance of this but I missed the boat on this. Now I cannot sell anything as most of the similar stocks I have are in loss territory. In fact, I have GWO and MFC in similar amounts. BIG mistake!

            I wonder how many people reading this blog and contributing actually pay close attention to asset allocation. My task now is to try to restructure my portfolio without incurring heavy losses.

            thanks for the contribution.
            Prasanna

  13. Hi Vicky,

    I am a newbie to investing and I wondered why you say “That being said, I’m still good with my ETFs for the time being. 🙂 But I agree with Mark; if I were to head into the dividend stocks route, I would prefer to own the stocks themselves and avoid the 0.6% in fees!”

    Is there a reason why you have chosen not to head down the dividend stocks route? Is this not what every investor tries to achieve?

    Mary

    • Hi Mary,

      Have a read through this post (and especially the comments):

      http://www.dividendninja.com/should-you-invest-in-dividend-stocks-or-etfs

      The bottom line is many people prefer ETFs becuase of the level of diversification, which offers a level of saftey. Many people don’t feel comfortable buying stocks directly. The most important reason of course is that the average ETF investor will ahcieve results that are just fine.

      Personally I’d rather have fewer companies but have direct ownership and the dividend income of course. 😉

      Cheers

    • Hey Mary,

      I have a little gambling problem so I am trying to stay away from individual stocks as I like to buy and sell for quick gains. 🙂

      Individual stocks requires a lot of research and keeping up with the companies to ensure that the dividends are continuing, etc. At this point in my life, I know myself well enough to realize that I am not going to read every annual report and scour through their financial statements for all the companies I would like to hold. Broad market based ETFs are simple, provides me with the diversification I need, and it is easy to justify to clients why their portfolio is similar to mine.

      Thanks for dropping by!

  14. Hi Vicky,

    I am a newbie to investing and I wondered why you say “That being said, I’m still good with my ETFs for the time being. 🙂 But I agree with Mark; if I were to head into the dividend stocks route, I would prefer to own the stocks themselves and avoid the 0.6% in fees!”

    Is there a reason why you have chosen not to head down the dividend stocks route? Is this not what every investor tries to achieve?

    Mary

    • Hi Mary,

      Have a read through this post (and especially the comments):

      http://www.dividendninja.com/should-you-invest-in-dividend-stocks-or-etfs

      The bottom line is many people prefer ETFs becuase of the level of diversification, which offers a level of saftey. Many people don’t feel comfortable buying stocks directly. The most important reason of course is that the average ETF investor will ahcieve results that are just fine.

      Personally I’d rather have fewer companies but have direct ownership and the dividend income of course. 😉

      Cheers

    • Hey Mary,

      I have a little gambling problem so I am trying to stay away from individual stocks as I like to buy and sell for quick gains. 🙂

      Individual stocks requires a lot of research and keeping up with the companies to ensure that the dividends are continuing, etc. At this point in my life, I know myself well enough to realize that I am not going to read every annual report and scour through their financial statements for all the companies I would like to hold. Broad market based ETFs are simple, provides me with the diversification I need, and it is easy to justify to clients why their portfolio is similar to mine.

      Thanks for dropping by!

  15. Thanks for the follow-up Vicky and DN, the mist has cleared slightly:-)

    Below is the ETF allocation I am planning for my investments

    CDN Stock 25% – XIU or XIC or XDV
    Bond 30% – XSB or XBB
    US Stock Market 25% – VTI or IYY
    International Stock MArket 20% XIN or VXUS

    Which ETF’s would you recommend based on my selectiopn options for each allocation or do you know of other ETF’s that I should consider. Remember I am a newbie at this so I don’t know the in’s or out’s or really why one ETF might be better than the other. The above ETF’s I picked where due to low expense fees…. are there other factors I should consider when reviewing ETF’s?

    All these ETF’s give dividends correct? I hope I am not going in the wrong direction with this….

    • Hey Mary,

      If you check out the other ETF posts I have done for DN, you can see an analysis between XIC and XIU. Take a look and see if that helps you make a decision.

      The asset allocation itself looks reasonable; you can check out my website as I do monthly portfolio update on my personal portfolio. With my updates, you can see the ETFs I currently hold as well as my target asset allocation.

      As a newbie, I think you are doing the best thing you can do for yourself! Continue reading and learning and asking questions! Check out Ninja’s list of recommended readings as a good starting point.

      Thanks for dropping by!

  16. Thanks for the follow-up Vicky and DN, the mist has cleared slightly:-)

    Below is the ETF allocation I am planning for my investments

    CDN Stock 25% – XIU or XIC or XDV
    Bond 30% – XSB or XBB
    US Stock Market 25% – VTI or IYY
    International Stock MArket 20% XIN or VXUS

    Which ETF’s would you recommend based on my selectiopn options for each allocation or do you know of other ETF’s that I should consider. Remember I am a newbie at this so I don’t know the in’s or out’s or really why one ETF might be better than the other. The above ETF’s I picked where due to low expense fees…. are there other factors I should consider when reviewing ETF’s?

    All these ETF’s give dividends correct? I hope I am not going in the wrong direction with this….

    • Hey Mary,

      If you check out the other ETF posts I have done for DN, you can see an analysis between XIC and XIU. Take a look and see if that helps you make a decision.

      The asset allocation itself looks reasonable; you can check out my website as I do monthly portfolio update on my personal portfolio. With my updates, you can see the ETFs I currently hold as well as my target asset allocation.

      As a newbie, I think you are doing the best thing you can do for yourself! Continue reading and learning and asking questions! Check out Ninja’s list of recommended readings as a good starting point.

      Thanks for dropping by!

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