George Valantasis
Associate Director, Factors and Dividends, S&P Dow Jones Indices
The S&P 500 Low Volatility Index: Currently Valued at the 99th Percentile of Cheapness Relative to the S&P 500
Investor enthusiasm for AI and mega-cap technology stocks has propelled the S&P 500® to a gain of more than 30% over the past 12 months. As the S&P 500 has been reaching new highs on a regular basis, it is understandable if low volatility stocks have not been at the top of investors’ minds. This…
The February 2024 Rebalance of the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index
Since the previous rebalance for the S&P 500® Low Volatility Index on Nov. 17, 2023, and its most recent on Feb. 16, 2024, the S&P 500 delivered a stunning 11.3% return. During this period, the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index was up 5.3%, strong by historical standards, albeit underperforming the S&P 500. As has been the…
S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Rebalance: Let’s Welcome the 18 Newest Members
The S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats® includes large-, mid-, and small-cap companies in the U.S. that have raised their dividends for at least 20 consecutive years. The index recently concluded its annual reconstitution on Jan. 31, 2024, which brought 18 new members into this accomplished group. Accounting for the three deletions, the index’s total count…
The S&P Dividend Aristocrats Remain Benchmark Beaters in Pan Asia
While most dividend strategies underperformed their respective benchmarks in 2023, the S&P Pan Asia Dividend Aristocrats® impressively outperformed the S&P Pan Asia BMI by approximately 3.50% (see Exhibit 1). Furthermore, despite the outperformance, the S&P Pan Asia Dividend Aristocrats’ valuations and dividend yield remained favorable relative to the benchmark (see Exhibits 3 and 4). This…
The November 2023 Rebalance of the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index
The S&P 500® continued its strong performance this year after posting a 9.8% gain in a span of less than three weeks from Oct. 30 to Nov. 17, 2023. During this period, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dropped approximately 45 bps1 and October’s year-over-year headline CPI inflation cooled to 3.2%.2 As Exhibit 1 shows, since…
- Categories Factors
- Tags factors, GICS, Low Vol, low volatility, S&P 500 Low Volatility Index, sectors, US FA
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- Factors
Balancing High Yield and Growing Dividends in a Sector-Neutral Framework with the S&P Sector-Neutral High Yield Dividend Aristocrats
In September 2022, S&P DJI was pleased to add the S&P Sector-Neutral High Yield Dividend Aristocrats® to the S&P Dividend Aristocrats Index Series. While most dividend indices have notable sector under- and overweights versus their underlying benchmark, this index is the first in the series to be sector neutral. As such, this index emphasizes dividend…
S&P 500 Low Volatility Index August 2023 Rebalance
The S&P 500® performed well from the last rebalance for the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index on May 19, 2023, through the most recent rebalance on Aug. 18, 2023. As Exhibit 1 shows, the S&P 500 was up 4.7% during this period versus a decline of 1.5% for the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index. This…
- Categories Factors
- Tags 2023, factors, Low Vol, low volatility, S&P 500 Low Volatility Index, sectors, smart beta, US FA
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- Factors
S&P 500 Low Volatility Index May 2023 Rebalance
Since the last rebalance for the S&P 500® Low Volatility Index on Feb. 17, 2023, the S&P 500 finished up 3.2% despite briefly dropping in mid-March during the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Exhibit 1 shows that during this period, the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index underperformed the S&P 500 by 4.3%. This divergence is…
- Categories Factors
- Tags factors, Low Vol, low volatility, S&P 500 Low Volatility Index, sectors, smart beta, US FA
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- Factors
Expanding the Dividend Aristocrats Ecosystem with ESG Screening and FMC Weighting
Amid rising interest rates and the uncertain macroeconomic environment last year, dividend-focused strategies received substantial inflows throughout 2022. On top of these recent macroeconomic trends is also the longer-term, structural development of increasing investor demand for investments that align with their personal and societal values. Against this backdrop, S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) recently…
- Categories ESG, Factors
- Tags Dividend Aristocrats, dividend yield, dividends, ESG, factors, S&P ESG High Yield Dividend Aristocrats FMC Weighted Index, S&P International Developed Ex-North America & Korea ESG Dividend Aristocrats FMC Weighted Index, S&P/TSX Canadian ESG Dividend Aristocrats FMC Weighted Index, strategy
The Dow Jones Dividend 100 Indices Part 2: Strong Fundamentals and the Benefits of Diversification
In part one of this series, we highlighted how the stringent dividend sustainability and quality screens of the Dow Jones U.S. Dividend 100 Index and Dow Jones International Dividend 100 Index may have led to their outperformance in 2022 and other inflationary periods. In this installment, we will analyze the positive effects that these screens…