Growth-tilted compounder. Screens for yield first — 70% of the index score — then payout ratio and dividend growth at 15% each, so holdings are payers whose payouts are not stretched. Annual distributions rose from $1.09 per share in 2021 to $1.64 in 2025, and the fee is 0.15%.
Key risk: Large-cap growth tilt — technology is about a third of the fund and Apple, NVIDIA and Microsoft alone are about 19.7% of assets, so a tech drawdown moves both the price and the income base more than a defensive dividend basket would.
Changes if: The annual distribution falls back below its 2023 level ($1.59 per share) and does not recover, or the top growth names grow large enough that the payout tracks a handful of low-yield stocks instead of the broad payer base.
- ✓Coverage check: The index screens payout ratio to avoid firms paying out too much to sustain it, across 109 holdings — no single payer carries the distribution.
- ✓Yield check: 2.77% trailing is paid yield — $1.714 per share over the last four quarters — in the moderate band, not distress yield and not a return of capital.
- ✓Dividend growth check: Annual per-share distributions rose from $1.09 in 2021 to $1.64 in 2025, with a dip to $1.47 in 2024 in between; the trailing 12 months to September 2026 total $1.71.
What this grade doesn't say: It screens the dividend only — covered, real, compounding. It says nothing about valuation or price: a well-covered payer can still be overpriced, and its price can still fall.