ETF Evaluator: Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF () Follow This ETF

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF Overview

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF (DFEV) is an actively managed International Equity Diversified Emerging Mkts exchange-traded fund (ETF). Dimensional Fund Advisors launched the ETF in 2022.

The investment seeks to achieve long-term capital appreciation. The Portfolio is designed to purchase emerging market equity securities that are deemed by the Advisor to be value stocks at the time of purchase, which may include frontier markets (emerging market countries in an earlier stage of development). As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the Portfolio will invest at least 80% of its net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined in the Prospectus as Approved Markets securities. The Portfolio may purchase emerging market equity securities across all market capitalizations.

About Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF (DFEV)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 3.81 years: Jed Fogdall (2022), Mary Phillips (2024), Joseph Hohn (2022) and Ethan Wren (2022). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: MSCI EM NR USD index with a weighting of 100% and MSCI EM Value NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF has 3522 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 18.7% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity ETF group. Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF has 99.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 1.3% There is 99.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF has -0.3% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 billion in total assets, which is below the $3 billion average for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

DFEV Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF expense ratio is average compared to funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF has an expense ratio of 0.43%, which is 17% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 14%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 44% for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF returned -4.9%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Diversified Emerging Mkts category had an average return of -3.0%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF has a trailing yield of 2.15%, which is below the 2.41% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Dimensional Emerging Markets Value ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 19.7%, 2.5 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 35.8% over the past year (grade of B) and 19.6% over the past three years (grade of B).

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