Taking Dogs of the Dow to REIT Investors

ALPS Advisors announced the investment strategy for the new Exchange Traded Fund called the ALPS REIT Dividend Dogs ETF (RDOG). The strategy applies the “Dogs of the Dow Theory” to its rules-based investment strategy. Instead of selecting the five Dow Jones components with the highest yield, this strategy owns an equally balanced portfolio of the highest yielding five Real Estate Investment Trusts across 9 REIT sectors.

All the REITs to comprise the portfolio must also have funds from operations that are higher than the dividend payout.

ALPs Advisors and the Dogs of the Dow

ALPS Advisors is an asset manager and wholly-owned subsidiary of SS&C Technologies, Inc. The REIT Dividend DOGs ETF will hold equity REITs that own property. Both commercial and residential mortgage REITs will not be in the portfolio.

“When we looked across the existing REIT space, we noticed some large segment biases that may expose REIT investors to outsized risks,” Andy Hicks, Senior Vice President and Director of ETF Portfolio Management & Research at ALPS said this week. “With RDOG’s equal-weighting approach to both the high yielding REITs and nine segments, we believe investors can access dividend-based income and total returns while reducing overall risk.”

The exchange-traded fund was formerly known as Cohen & Steers Global Realty Majors ETF that traded with the symbol of (GRI).

Related: Blackstone to Purchase Dream Global REIT for $4.7 Billion