Topic: How To Invest

Dear Pat: Can I have your views on this ETF: iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index Fund ETF? Thank you for your advice.

Article Excerpt

iShares S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index Fund ETF, $24.56, symbol CDZ on Toronto (Units outstanding: 37.6 million; Market cap: $923.5 million; ca.ishares.com), seeks to replicate the performance of the S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index. The ETF’s MER is 0.66%, and it yields 3.2%. The S&P/TSX Canadian Dividend Aristocrats Index only includes stocks or trusts that have increased their dividends every year for five years—although it has changed that to include stocks or trusts that have maintained the same dividend for a maximum of two consecutive years within that five-year period. That means the index excludes a number of sound companies that pay dividends but haven’t increased them every year, such as three of Canada’s big-five bank stocks. The ETF’s top 10 holdings are AGF Management, 4.3%; AG Growth International, 3.7%; Bird Construction, 3.5%; Reitmans (Canada), 3.1%; Exchange Income Corp., 3.1%; Northern Property REIT, 2.9%; Enbridge Income Fund Holdings, 2.9%; IGM Financial, 2.5%; Laurentian Bank of Canada, 2.4%; and Emera Inc., 2.4%. We…