DGRW dividend: monthly payouts, history and yield (2026)

DGRW at a glance

Paid last 12 months

$1.22 / share

Trailing yield

About 1.2%

Pays dividends

monthly

Expense ratio

0.28%

Fund size

$17.1 billion

Average per year since 2013

+13%

Expense ratio, fund size and total return from the TopDividendETFsPRO database, updated November 2, 2026. Per-share payments from StockAnalysis and Digrin, through the October 2026 payment. Trailing yield uses a share price of about $98.90. Holdings as of August 14, 2026.

The WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Fund launched on May 22, 2013, and it's grown into a $17 billion fund. It shows up a lot when people search for dividend growth ETFs, usually right next to $DGRO and $VIG. The big difference you notice right away: $DGRW pays every month.

That sounds great for income. But "monthly" here doesn't mean a steady paycheck, and the yield is lower than most people expect. Let's look at the real numbers.

DGRW dividend schedule for 2026

$DGRW has paid 10 times so far in 2026. You need to own shares before the ex-dividend date, and the cash lands two business days later:

So when is the next $DGRW dividend? Going by the pattern, the November ex-date should land in the last week of November, and the December one near the end of December. WisdomTree announces the exact dates and amounts shortly before each one, so treat those as estimates.

And please don't buy the day before the ex-date to "grab" the dividend. The price drops by about the dividend amount on the ex-date. You don't make money, you just turn part of your investment into a taxable payment.

Why DGRW pays more in March, June, September and December

Look at the table again. The quarter-end months paid $0.16 to $0.17. The months in between paid $0.025 to $0.075. That's not a glitch.

$DGRW owns about 200 U.S. companies, and most of them pay quarterly. Plenty of big payers send their checks in the same months, so the cash piles up in the fund around quarter-end. $DGRW passes through what it collects each month, minus expenses. Quiet months mean a small check. Busy months mean a big one.

This is the part most people miss with monthly dividend ETFs that hold regular stocks. Monthly frequency is not the same as monthly smoothness. If you're building a budget around the income, plan with the yearly total divided by 12, not with any single month. In the last 12 months, the smallest check ($0.025 in January) was about one tenth of the biggest ($0.2327 last December).

If smooth, steady monthly cash is what you really want, that's a different kind of fund. My sister site MonthlyETFs.com tracks the monthly payers, and the covered call funds there pay much more evenly (with very different trade-offs).

DGRW dividend history: is the payout growing?

Here's what $DGRW paid per share each year, counted by ex-dividend date:

I'll be straight with you: for a fund with "dividend growth" in the name, the per-share payout hasn't grown much. From 2021 to 2025 it went from $1.17 to $1.28, about 2% a year, with a dip in 2023. And 2026 is running behind 2025 so far.

Compare that with $VIG, where the payout grew about 6% a year from 2022 to 2025. So why own $DGRW at all? Because the "growth" in this fund mostly shows up in the share price, not the dividend. That's the next section.

What DGRW holds (and why the yield is low)

$DGRW tracks the WisdomTree U.S. Quality Dividend Growth Index. Here's how it picks stocks, under the rules that took effect in December 2025:

• Start with U.S. dividend payers with a market cap of at least $2 billion that paid regular dividends over the past year, and whose earnings yield is higher than their dividend yield (so the payout is covered).
• Score each one 50% on quality (3-year average return on equity and return on assets) and 50% on growth (analyst earnings growth estimates plus 5-year earnings and sales growth).
• Keep the top 200 (it used to be 300) and weight them by how much they're projected to pay in dividends, with caps: 8% per stock, 30% for tech and 10% for real estate.
• Rebalance once a year, in December.

Here are the top 10 holdings as of August 14, 2026:

$NVDA, $MSFT, $AAPL, $META. That's a quality growth portfolio that happens to pay dividends. These companies earn high returns on capital and pay small yields, which is exactly why $DGRW yields around 1.2%.

And it's worked. The TopDividendETFsPRO database shows a total return of +418% since launch with dividends reinvested, about +13% a year, with price decay: none. The trade-off is the fee: 0.28%, or $28 a year on $10,000. That's several times what $DGRO or $VIG cost.

Are DGRW dividends qualified? How they're taxed

$DGRW holds U.S. common stocks, and dividends from U.S. companies you hold long enough are generally qualified, taxed at long-term capital gains rates (0%, 15% or 20%) instead of your ordinary income rate. You need to hold the fund more than 60 days around the ex-date.

WisdomTree publishes the exact qualified percentage for each year in its tax information, and your 1099-DIV is the final word. I couldn't confirm the 2025 percentage from WisdomTree's site, so check your own tax form rather than taking anyone's guess. For a close cousin where the number is published, see are DGRO dividends qualified.

Same as $VIG, the low yield is a tax feature in a taxable account. Most of your return comes as price growth, and you don't owe tax on that until you sell.

What $10,000 in DGRW pays

Using the actual payments from the last 12 months ($1.22 a share) and a price near $99, here's what $10,000 would have paid:

That's not much income. If you want $1,000 a month from $DGRW alone, you'd need roughly $1 million at a 1.2% yield. Nobody should buy $DGRW to replace a paycheck soon.

What it can do is grow the pile. $10,000 put in at launch in 2013 with dividends reinvested would be worth about $51,800 today. A bigger portfolio later means more income later, whatever you move it into.

DGRW vs DGRO, VIG and SCHD

Most people looking at $DGRW are choosing between it and these three. Here's how they line up:

$DGRO is the closest match: also a dividend growth fund, a bit more yield, quarterly payments and a much lower 0.08% fee. $VIG is the cheapest and has grown its payout the fastest. $SCHD pays the most today, which is why it's the core of so many income portfolios (I cover it in my full SCHD review).

$DGRW's edge is its tilt toward high-quality, faster-growing companies, and its long-run return has held up well against all three. To compare total returns on equal footing, my sister site ETFTotalReturns.com lines them up side by side. If you lean toward growth over income, GrowthETFs.com covers that side, and TopDividendETFs.com ranks dividend ETFs with price decay flags.

My take: who DGRW is for

I've been a dividend investor for over a decade, and I've learned to judge a fund by what it does to my total wealth and my future income, not by the frequency of the checks. With $DGRW, the monthly payout is the least interesting part.

• It fits if you want a quality-tilted stock fund with a dividend screen, you have a long runway, and you're happy reinvesting a small yield.
• It fits less well if you need income now. A 1.2% yield paid in uneven monthly amounts won't cover your bills.
• Watch the fee. 0.28% isn't crazy, but $DGRO and $VIG do a similar job for a fraction of the cost.

If I wanted dividend growth exposure, I'd rather start with the cheaper funds and add $DGRW only if I specifically wanted its quality and growth tilt. And I wouldn't buy it because it pays monthly. That's a nice bonus, not a reason.

Whatever you pick, compare before you buy. That's exactly what TopDividendETFsPRO is built for: yield, total return and price decay for 130+ income ETFs in one screen.

Sources

• StockAnalysis: DGRW dividend history (ex-dates, pay dates, amounts)
• Digrin: DGRW dividend history (full history since 2013, October 2026 payment)
• StockAnalysis: DGRW holdings (holdings and top 10 weights as of August 14, 2026)
• WisdomTree prospectus supplement, December 2025 (SEC) (index methodology)
• Total return, fund size, price decay and expense ratios: TopDividendETFsPRO.com database

This article is for education only and is not financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Do your own research and read the fund's prospectus before investing, and talk to a tax professional about your own situation. Yields, payments and returns change, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Dividend payments as of November 2, 2026; live numbers update daily.