SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY)

The SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY) started trading in November 2005. It tracks the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index, minus expenses and fees. The fund uses a replication approach to track the index. It attempts to own every index component.

The S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index measures the performance of the 50 highest yielding components of the S&P Composite 1500 Index that have raised dividends every year for the last 25 years or more. At rebalancing, no stock can have a weight of over 4% in the index.

As of July, the index's components had an average market cap of $31.3 billion and the following sector breakdown:

Basic Materials 9.03%
Consumer cyclical 9.43%
Consumer staples 8.43%
Financials 29.95%
Health care 9.7%
Industrials 9.66%
Information Technology 2.94%
Utilities 20.86%

As of July 2008, the ETF holds 50 stocks spread out over the following sectors:

Basic Materials 8.76%
Consumer cyclical 9.2%
Consumer staples 8.05%
Financials 32.76%
Health care 9.38%
Industrials 9.38%
Information Technology 2.86%
Utilities 19.6%


The ETF has an expense ratio of 0.34%.

Although this is subject to change, it pays dividends on a quarterly basis, in March, June, September, and December. The dividend is irregular, and past distributions have ranged from $0.309 a share to $1.375 a share.

The ETF's holdings, as of July 2008, are listed below.