Dimensional Fund Advisors has introduced two new fully transparent active ETFs that systematically harvest multiple factor risk premia within US and international developed equity markets.
The Dimensional US Vector Equity ETF (DXUV US) and Dimensional International Vector Equity ETF (DXIV US) are listed on NYSE Arca with expense ratios of 0.28% and 0.34%, respectively.
Driven by clearly defined quantitative rules, the funds select companies with lower relative value (based on price-to-book, price-to-cash-flow, or price-to-earnings) and higher profitability (based on earnings-to-book or profits-to-book) characteristics.
They then apply modest portfolio tilts away from conventional market cap weights, targeting three key factor exposures: smaller capitalization, lower value, and higher profitability. These ETFs are designed to emphasize these long-term drivers of expected returns while managing risk through broad diversification across countries (for DXIV), sectors, and individual stocks.
Portfolio managers may also adjust the ETFs’ exposure to specific companies based on short-term considerations such as price momentum.
Dimensional also offers a third ‘Vector’ ETF, the Dimensional US Large Cap Vector ETF (DFVX US), which follows the same investment approach but starts with an initial universe of US large-cap equities. This ETF comes with an expense ratio of 0.22% and has amassed $280 million in assets since its launch ten months ago.