Data sourced from Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
Dividend-focused ETFs pulled in $34.25 billion of net new money through the first seven months of 2026 (State Street, July 2026 Flash Flows), most of it RIA client money moving toward funds that pay cash, on a schedule, from companies with a habit of raising that cash every year. This blog covers why RIAs lean on dividend ETFs, which funds have won the most demand, and what Dakota Marketplace's 13F data shows about how deep that ownership runs.
The Data
Among advisors surveyed on how they generate additional portfolio income, 59% pointed to dividend-paying stocks first, ahead of duration plays and credit spreads (VettaFi, January 2025). Two of the largest dividend ETFs by assets, Capital Group's active CGDV and Schwab's SCHD, also ranked among 2025's five most popular funds by net inflows, at roughly $7.6 billion and $5.5 billion (ETF.com).
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Dividend ETF
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Strategy Type
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Approx. AUM
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VIG (Vanguard Dividend Appreciation)
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Dividend growth
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$95B+
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SCHD (Schwab US Dividend Equity)
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Dividend growth/quality
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$70B+
|
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VYM (Vanguard High Dividend Yield)
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High yield
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$60B+
|
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DGRO (iShares Core Dividend Growth)
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Dividend growth
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$35B
|
|
CGDV (Capital Group Dividend Value)
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Active, dividend value
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$23B
|
|
HDV (iShares Core High Dividend)
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High yield, defensive tilt
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$12B+
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Growth funds like VIG, SCHD, and DGRO screen for long records of raising payouts and lean toward financials and health care. Yield funds like VYM and HDV chase the biggest current payout and skew toward energy and staples. Both run underweight technology, part of the appeal for diversifying clients out of mega-cap concentration.
Why RIAs Build Around These Funds
An aging client base wants income, not a portfolio to sell down. Retirees are a growing share of RIA books, and dividend payers tend to be cash-generative businesses reluctant to cut a payout once set. A diversified ETF spreads that income so one cut doesn't derail a client's budget, and it needs far less monitoring than a hand-built stock basket across hundreds of households. Growth and high-yield sleeves often sit in the same account: one manages sequencing risk, the other current income.
Tax efficiency favors ETFs over bonds for yield. Most distributions from a dividend ETF are qualified dividends, taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20%, versus up to 37% ordinary-income treatment on the equivalent bond ETF yield (ETF.com). That gap is why dividend ETFs increasingly compete with core bonds for a portfolio's income sleeve rather than sitting purely in equities.
The ETF wrapper keeps taking share from mutual funds and stock baskets, on lower expense ratios, daily holdings transparency, cleaner tax-loss harvesting, and one ticker replacing a hand-built basket of 50-400 names. Dividend strategies have absorbed an outsized share of that shift. RIA aggregators are standardizing exposure across model portfolios. A handful of dividend ETFs have become the default building block across hundreds of practices under one consolidator, so a single model decision can move hundreds of millions into one ticker at once. That shows up directly in the 13F data below.
What Dakota's 13F Data Shows
Dakota Marketplace's 13F database tracks reported ETF positions from RIAs, broker-dealers, and banks that file quarterly with the SEC. RIA-only 13F filings from January 2025 through the latest 2026 period, by number of distinct RIA holding disclosures per ticker:
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Ticker
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Fund
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RIA 13F Disclosures (2025-2026)
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VIG
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Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF
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1,701
|
|
SCHD
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Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF
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1,437
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|
VYM
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Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
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1,383
|
|
DVY
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iShares Select Dividend ETF
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907
|
|
DGRO
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iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF
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872
|
Firms showing up with large positions in ETF’s like SCHD or VIG include Creative Planning, Mariner Wealth Advisors, Hightower Advisors, Cresset Wealth Advisors, Cerity Partners, Carson Wealth Management, and Allworth Financial, all built substantially through advisor recruitment and acquisition.
What This Means for Fund Managers
- Dividend growth outpaces high yield. A pitch built on current yield alone underperforms one built on payout growth and quality screening.
- Large positions cluster at aggregators. One model-portfolio decision there can outweigh winning a hundred smaller RIAs individually.
- Decision-makers differ by segment. Aggregator CIOs and model committees move on a different cycle than a lead advisor choosing a fund for one household.
- Cost and tax efficiency are table stakes, not differentiators, given expense ratios already compressed to a few basis points.
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