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Shareholder Yield Shines among Value Factors

Published January 5, 2024

Matt Wagner, CFA
Matt Wagner, CFA

Director, Research

WisdomTree pioneered fundamental weighting as a novel approach to rules-based value investing. Instead of using market capitalization, a company’s weight in indexes is based on dividends or earnings.

Another unique value strategy is the WisdomTree Value Fund (WTV), which selects and weights companies based on shareholder yield.

Shareholder Yield = Dividend Yield + Net Buyback Yield

WTV Long-Term Performance and Rankings

Over a prolonged stretch where value indexes have lagged broad benchmarks, selecting companies based on shareholder yield has shone.

WTV ranks in the top decile of the Large Value category across standardized periods.*

WTV Performance and Peer Rankings

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For the most recent month-end and standardized performance, click here.

Recent Performance and Attribution

Over the last 12 months, WTV outperformed the Russell 1000 Value Index by more than 600 basis points.

This outperformance spanned across sectors, with positive contributions from 8 out of 11 sectors.

One-Year Sector Attribution: WTV vs. Russell 1000 Value Index

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December Rebalance

While some investors use shareholder yield to replace existing value mandates, it also serves as a complement, or diversifier, to other value approaches. WTV has only a 22% overlap with the Russell 1000 Value Index.

WTV was rebalanced this December, increasing weight to companies with higher shareholder yields and reducing weight to companies with lower shareholder yields.

After the rebalance, the Fund’s shareholder yield increased from 6.5% to 7.9% while maintaining a higher return on equity (ROE) than both the Russell 1000 Value and the S&P 500.

Compared to the Russell 1000 Value, the Fund typically has a mid-cap bias due to its factor weighting.

WTV Characteristics

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THIS MATERIAL MUST BE PRECEDED OR ACCOMPANIED BY A PROSPECTUS. CLICK HERE TO VIEW WTV PROSPECTUS.

For definitions of terms in the table above, please visit the glossary.

Compared to the Russell 1000 Value, WTV is 10% over-weight in Consumer Discretionary with lesser over-weights in Energy (+3%) and Materials (+3%). The greatest under-weights are in Health Care (-6%), Consumer Staples (-4%), Real Estate (-3%) and Utilities (-3%).

Sector Weights

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The weighting process of the model behind WTV, which is based on shareholder yield, is a version of modified equal weighting. The largest weight in the Fund after the rebalance is less than 1%, making the Fund well-diversified across companies and sectors.

Unlike frequent rebalancing, which can lead to premature selling of winning positions, WTV has an annual rebalancing process, with smaller-scale changes made intra-year based on market conditions and investment opportunities.

At this year’s rebalance, the Fund sold one of its winners—Meta—after impressive trailing 12-month returns of nearly 200%.

The reason?

Meta’s shareholder yield dropped significantly since November 20, 2022, falling from nearly 13% to less than 3%. In comparison to the S&P 500, Meta shifted from having a greater-than-3x shareholder yield to a below-market shareholder yield.
While there’s no perfect timing signal, using shareholder yield as a sell-discipline helps determine, quantitively, when to take profits off the table.

For investors who find themselves over-weight in the Magnificent Seven following a remarkable surge this year, WTV offers a diversified basket with zero exposure to those specific names.

Important Risks Related to this Article

For current Fund holdings, please click here. Holdings are subject to risk and change.

There are risks associated with investing, including the possible loss of principal. Funds focusing their investments on certain sectors increase their vulnerability to any single economic or regulatory development. This may result in greater share price volatility. While the Fund is actively managed, the Fund’s investment process is expected to be heavily dependent on quantitative models, and the models may not perform as intended. Please read the Fund’s prospectus for specific details regarding the Fund’s risk profile.

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About the contributor

Matt Wagner, CFA
Matt Wagner, CFA

Director, Research

Matt Wagner joined WisdomTree in May 2017 as an Analyst on the Research team. He currently serves as a Director, where he supports the creation, maintenance, and reconstitution of WisdomTree’s indexes and actively managed ETFs. Matt began his career at Morgan Stanley, working as an analyst in Treasury Capital Markets from 2015 to 2017, focusing on unsecured funding planning, execution, and risk management. He graduated magna cum laude from Boston College in 2015 with a B.A. in International Studies, concentrating in Economics. In 2020, he earned a Certificate in Advanced Valuation from NYU Stern. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

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