Data sourced from Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
Every quarter, institutional investment managers with $100 million or more in 13(f) securities report their holdings to the SEC (SEC Form 13F FAQ). The filings are public but not built for prospecting: each is one firm's list of issuer names, share counts and values, with no asset class tags and no quarter-over-quarter comparison. Finding which RIAs hold a given ETF means pulling filings firm by firm and doing the matching yourself.
Dakota Marketplace does that work for you. Its 13F tab holds 2,621,000+ holdings, including 938,000+ ETF positions, searchable by ticker, asset class and product structure, with Status fields that flag each position as New, Increased, Decreased or Sold-Out versus last quarter.
We used that data to find which smart beta ETFs the most RIAs actually own. Smart beta funds follow rules instead of market-cap weights, tilting toward value, growth, dividends, quality, low volatility or equal weighting. Style funds lead: Vanguard Value (VTV) is held by 164 RIAs for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, followed by Vanguard Growth (VUG) at 159 and Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VIG) at 149. Equity ETFs took in $917 billion in 2025, with $809.5 billion going to size and style funds (FactSet, January 2026).
In this article, we’ll rank the 10 smart beta ETFs held by the most RIAs, show where the dollars concentrate, and break down what RIA factor tilts mean for managers selling equity strategies.
The Top 10 Smart Beta ETFs Held by RIAs
Ranked by the number of distinct RIAs reporting a position in 13F filings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025.
|
Rank
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
Strategy
|
RIA holdings
|
|
1
|
VTV
|
Vanguard Value ETF
|
Large cap value
|
164
|
|
2
|
VUG
|
Vanguard Value ETF
|
Large cap growth
|
159
|
|
3
|
VIG
|
Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF
|
Dividend growth
|
149
|
|
4
|
IVW
|
iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF
|
Large cap growth
|
124
|
|
5
|
RSP
|
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF
|
Equal weight
|
116
|
|
6
|
VYM
|
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
|
High dividend
|
107
|
|
7
|
SCHD
|
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
|
Dividend quality
|
105
|
|
8
|
VBR
|
Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF
|
Small cap value
|
103
|
|
9
|
SCHG
|
Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF
|
Large cap growth
|
96
|
|
10
|
DFAC
|
Dimensional U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF
|
Systematic core (active)
|
85
|
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025. XLU and XLI tie at 67 RIAs and are ordered by RIA dollars held.
What the Ranking Shows
1. Style Funds Lead (5 of the Top 10)
Value and growth funds hold five of the top 10 spots: VTV, VUG, IVW, VBR and SCHG. Across the category, 257 RIAs hold at least one style ETF, with $7.3B in holdings.
RIAs rarely pick a side. 123 RIAs hold both VTV and VUG, pairing a value sleeve with a growth sleeve rather than betting on one style.
2. Dividend Strategies Reach 227 RIAs (VIG, VYM and SCHD)
Three dividend funds make the top 10. Of the 195 RIAs holding VIG, VYM or SCHD, 114 hold two or more and 52 hold all three. Across all dividend ETFs, 227 RIAs hold at least one, with $2.7B in holdings.
Each fund screens differently. VIG looks for dividend growth, VYM for high current yield and SCHD for dividend quality. That lets an RIA combine income with a quality or growth tilt.
3. Factor Funds Form a Second Tier (QUAL at 84 RIAs)
Pure factor funds sit just outside the top 10. iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor (QUAL) is held by 84 RIAs. In total, 186 RIAs hold a quality, low volatility, momentum or multifactor ETF: 100 hold a quality fund, 81 a minimum volatility fund and 61 a momentum fund.
Equal weight is the other notable tilt. Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight (RSP) ranks fifth at 116 RIAs, a sign that many advisors are working to reduce concentration in the largest stocks.
Want to see which RIAs in your territory hold these funds? Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace.
Breadth vs. Dollars: Where RIA Assets Concentrate
The ETFs held by the most RIAs are not always the ones holding the most RIA money. RIAs reported $21.5B in smart beta ETF holdings for the quarter ending December 31, 2025, and the top 10 funds account for $9.1B of it.
|
Ticker
|
ETF
|
RIA holding
|
RIA holdings
|
|
DFAC
|
Dimensional U.S. Core Equity 2 ETF
|
85
|
$2.3B
|
|
VUG
|
Vanguard Growth ETF
|
159
|
$1.5B
|
|
VTV
|
Vanguard Value ETF
|
164
|
$1.5B
|
|
DFAU
|
Dimensional US Core Equity Market ETF
|
50
|
$989M
|
|
DFUS
|
Dimensional U.S. Equity ETF
|
59
|
$913M
|
|
SPYG
|
SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF
|
67
|
$900M
|
Dimensional U.S. Core Equity 2 (DFAC) ranks 10th by holders but first by dollars. The average RIA position is $27.2M, nearly three times VTV’s $9.3M, and four DFAC positions over $100M total $932M.
Dimensional dominates the dollars. Across all Dimensional funds in the category, 138 RIAs hold $7.7B, about 36% of RIA smart beta ETF assets. That is more than all style funds combined.
Source: Dakota Marketplace 13F holdings data, quarter ending December 31, 2025.
What This Means for Investment Firms Pitching RIAs
An RIA holding smart beta ETFs has already decided that rules-based tilts can beat plain market-cap weighting. That shapes what it will listen to.
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Lead with evidence. RIAs holding DFAC, QUAL or VBR have bought into factor investing. They will respond to a pitch built on factor exposures, research and process more than to one built on stock stories.
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Treat dividend holders as income buyers. The 227 RIAs holding dividend ETFs are serving clients who want cash flow. That is a natural opening for equity income, option income and other yield-focused strategies.
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Find the Dimensional firms. 138 RIAs hold $7.7B in Dimensional funds, with average positions far larger than in index funds. They are the highest-conviction systematic buyers in the RIA market and the first call for quant and factor managers.
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Use RSP as a concentration signal. An RIA holding equal weight alongside a market-cap index is already worried about mega-cap concentration. Lead with how your strategy diversifies away from the largest names.
Turn 13F Holdings Into a Prospect List
Every number in this post came from the 13F tab in Dakota Marketplace. Members filter 2,621,000+ holdings by account name, investment strategy, ticker, asset class, sub-asset class, product structure, fund balance range and filing period, and switch between a By Investor and a By Fund view.
Seven new fields make the data faster to act on:
- Quarter-over-quarter change on any holding: Previous No. of Shares, Previous Quarter Value and Status (New, Increased, Decreased, Equal Shares or Sold-Out) show who is adding or trimming a position, with no filing to open and no math to do.
- ETF exposure on every account: ETF AUM, ETF AUM %, Active ETF AUM and Passive ETF AUM answer "does this RIA use ETFs, and how much?" right on the account page.
That gives investment firms three ways to build a sharper list:
-
Find who holds a competitor's fund. Search a ticker and pull every firm reporting it.
-
Spot momentum. Filter by Status to see which RIAs bought or added to a position last quarter, and which sold out.
-
Target real holdings, not stated mandates. An RIA that leans active in its ETF book is a very different conversation than one that runs almost entirely passive.
Members can now build and save their own 13F lists with Create a List and My Lists, then export any list to Excel to share or print.
Find the RIAs Behind the Holdings
Dakota Marketplace tracks 8,700+ RIAs and 48,300+ RIA contacts, with 13F holdings attached to each firm profile. Filter by ETF ticker or asset class held, by RIA AUM, by metro area, or by decision-maker title such as CIO or portfolio manager.
Book a demo of Dakota Marketplace to know what an RIA already owns before you pitch what it should add.
