Screening Filters
monthly_average_dollar_volume ≥ 100,000
- Purpose: Ensure the ETFs are reasonably liquid and tradable.
- Rationale:
- Dividend ETFs you’d actually want to buy should have enough trading activity so that you can enter and exit positions without large price slippage.
- A minimum average dollar volume of $100k filters out very illiquid, obscure funds that might be harder to trade or have wider bid-ask spreads.
stock_position_pct: MoreThan50Pct
- Purpose: Focus on equity-based ETFs (true “stock” dividend ETFs), not bond or exotic income products.
- Rationale:
- When investors ask for “dividend ETFs,” they typically mean funds that primarily hold dividend-paying stocks.
- Requiring that more than 50% of the ETF’s holdings are in stocks ensures we are looking at equity income strategies rather than bond, preferreds-only, or derivative-heavy funds.
expense_ratio ≤ 0.60%
- Purpose: Limit results to relatively cost-efficient ETFs.
- Rationale:
- High fees eat into dividend income, which is exactly what dividend investors are trying to maximize.
- Capping the expense ratio at 0.6% helps surface ETFs where more of the yield reaches you instead of the fund provider, while still allowing both low-cost broad ETFs and some specialized dividend strategies.
annual_dividend_yield ≥ 3%
- Purpose: Target ETFs with a meaningful level of income.
- Rationale:
- For “recommended dividend ETFs,” yield is a core criterion. A 3%+ threshold screens out very low-yielding equity funds.
- This focuses the search on ETFs that can play a real role in an income-focused portfolio, while not being so extreme that you only get ultra-high-yield (and often higher-risk) products.
dividend_frequency: Monthly or Quarterly
- Purpose: Find ETFs that pay dividends on a regular, predictable schedule.
- Rationale:
- Dividend investors often care not just about how much they receive, but how often they receive it—for budgeting or cash-flow planning.
- Limiting to monthly and quarterly payers matches common payout schedules and aligns with typical income-investor preferences.
Why Results Match Your Request
- The equity exposure filter (stock_position_pct) ensures these are true stock-based dividend ETFs, not other income vehicles.
- The yield and payout frequency filters (annual_dividend_yield and dividend_frequency) directly target ETFs that provide regular, meaningful dividend income.
- The expense ratio cap keeps the focus on more efficient, investor-friendly funds—appropriate for “recommended” ETFs.
- The liquidity filter (monthly_average_dollar_volume) helps avoid thinly traded, niche products and keeps the list to ETFs that are more practical for most investors to buy and hold.
Together, these filters narrow the universe down to dividend-focused, stock-heavy, relatively liquid, and cost-conscious ETFs—consistent with what most people mean by “recommended dividend ETFs.”
This list is generated based on data from one or more third party data providers. It is provided for informational purposes only by Intellectia.AI, and is not investment advice or a recommendation. Intellectia does not make any warranty or guarantee relating to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any third-party information, and the provision of this information does not constitute a recommendation.