AdvisorShares has launched the Athena High Dividend ETF (DIVI), managed by AthenaInvest Advisors.
Thomas Howard, co-founder and chief investment officer of Athena, serves as the portfolio manager of DIVI.
In pursuing DIVI's investment objective, Athena seeks long-term capital appreciation through a behavioural portfolio management approach that invests in both US and foreign stocks of any capitalisation range with a dividend overlay.
Athena's behavioural factor-driven investment process measures active stock fund managers' behaviour, strategy consistency and conviction, and identifies securities which are held in the top relative weight positions within the equity universe. Sector, strategy and country diversification are used to reduce risk, as the portfolio manager takes these top relative weight positions and then uses a dividend overlay that selects high-yielding stocks for a dividend-weighted investment portfolio.
"The need for shareholder yield is well known, however, most equity dividend funds focus on dividends first and stock selection second. DIVI aims to provide high yield to investors while taking a patented behavioural approach to stock selection," says Noah Hamman, chief executive officer of AdvisorShares. "We feel many investors are seeking high income with less exposure to credit and interest rate risk, and DIVI looks to provide an established investment approach to selecting stocks with the additional benefits of a high yielding dividend income strategy. We believe DIVI, with its active ETF structure, is positioned to present a compelling single investment diversifier for investors and advisors to consider."
"The popular notion in the marketplace is that people are rational and markets are efficient, but in reality, there is an overwhelming presence of emotions involved in investment decisions which creates inefficiencies in the marketplace," says Howard. "Those inefficiencies, or distortions, when systemically analysed can generate opportunities for investment selection and portfolio performance, which we believe can benefit DIVI's shareholders. We are pleased to partner with AdvisorShares to deliver a diversified, dividend-yielding global equity portfolio through the intraday liquidity, daily transparency and overall efficiency of an actively managed ETF."
