Overview
- HDV has outpaced the S&P 500 in 2026, rising about 15% year-to-date compared with roughly 9% for the broad market, a gap driven by gains in energy and healthcare stocks.
- The iShares Core High Dividend ETF holds roughly 75 stocks, pays about a 2.9% trailing yield, and weights names by dividends after applying Morningstar quality screens that favor financially strong firms.
- SCHD and VYM remain low-cost, broad dividend choices for core income exposure with SEC yields near 3.3% for SCHD and about 2.3% for VYM and expense ratios of roughly 0.06% and 0.04% respectively.
- HDV’s top holdings include large energy and healthcare names such as ExxonMobil, AbbVie, Chevron, Verizon, and Home Depot, which made the fund more sensitive to oil-price moves tied to the Iran conflict and to strong drugmaker results and deals.
- Advisors say retail investors can use these ETFs as set-and-forget income building blocks or combine dividend-core funds with growth or higher-yield sleeves while noting that higher payouts often bring more price volatility and different tax treatment.