A Dividend Aristocrat is a stock that has a reputation for a long streak of dividend hikes – at least 25 years in a row. It's also on the S&P 500 index and is generally a sound business to invest in. If you're a dividend investor, that can be the type of stock you want to be holding in your portfolio.
The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (BATS: NOBL) gives you exposure to precisely that. The fund holds shares of 64 companies that span a wide range of sectors, with consumer staples being the largest, accounting for 22%. That's followed by industrials (18%), materials (13%), health care (11%), and financials (11%) as the only other sectors that are north of 10%.
Investors get some solid diversification with the fund and the expense ratio isn't overly expensive at 0.35%. The stocks in the fund average a price-to-earnings multiple of 18 and a price-to-book multiple of 3.5. And with a yield of 1.8%, the ETF will pay you more than the average S&P 500 stock which yields around 1.6%.
No stock accounts for even 2% of the fund's weight so investors don't have to worry about one stock having too much of an impact on the fund's overall performance. Some of the more notable stocks you'll find in this ETF include 3M (NYSE:MMM), Target (NYSE:TGT), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), and McDonald's (NYSE:MCD).
Year to date, the ProShares ETF has been outperforming the markets as it is down just 3% while the S&P has fallen by more than 9%.
