ETF Watch: Absolute Shares Adds High Div Fund

Today Absolute Shares rolled out an index-based ETF that tracks a benchmark provided by Solactive. The WBI Power Factor High Dividend ETF (WBIY) targets U.S. stocks across the large-, mid- and small-cap size segments, and comes with an expense ratio of 0.67%.

The fund launched on the NYSE Arca exchange.

WBIY’s index essentially targets the 50 companies in its selection universe with the largest dividend indicated yields, with certain additional constraints designed to maintain liquidity and diversification, the prospectus says. For example, individual component weights are capped at 5% of the index.

The index’s components are evaluated on a monthly basis for any changes in dividend policy or outlook, with updates made based on that assessment. The component list is also updated on a quarterly basis, according to the prospectus.

Absolute Shares has launched 11 actively managed ETFs previously under its WBI brand; WBIY is its first passively managed fund. The funds have roughly $1 billion in assets under management. 

Two Funds Close

Two ETFs saw their last day of trading on Dec. 15, but for very different reasons. 

The Oppenheimer Navellier Overall A-100 Revenue ETF (RWV) launched in 2009, but at the time of its closure, the fund had less than $10 milllion in assets under management. It had been on the market for nearly eight years and had failed to thrive in that time, and it looks like Oppenheimer decided to pull the plug.

Meanwhile, the closure of the iShares iBonds Dec 2016 Term Corporate ETF (IBDF) was a much different story. The fund had some $65 million in assets under management at the end of November; however, the fund was always designed to close down in December 2016, after all its component bonds reached their maturity.

IBDF is part of iShares’ iBonds family of target maturity fixed-income ETFs. The funds all invest in fixed-income securities that mature in a specific year.

The closure of RWV and IBDF pushes the total number of closures for the year to over 125, well past the previous record, with more funds likely to shut down as 2016 draws to a close.

Contact Heather Bell at [email protected].