Fund Evaluator:

Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C Overview

Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C (DRDCX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Large Blend fund. Dearborn Partners launched the fund in 2013.

The investment seeks current income, rising income over time, and long-term capital appreciation. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in the equity securities of companies that pay current dividends and that the fund's portfolio managers believe have the potential to increase their dividends with regularity. It will invest primarily in securities of U.S. companies, but may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities of "foreign issuers."

About Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C (DRDCX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 9.58 years: Carol Lippman (2013), Michael Andelman (2013), Peter Deakos (2024). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100%. Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C has 50 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 35.7% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C has 1.2% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 98.8%. There is 1.2% 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). Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C has 0.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $59 million in total assets, which is below the $6 billion average for the Large Blend 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.

DRDCX 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 Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Large Blend category. Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C has an expense ratio of 1.95%, which is 140% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. 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. Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C has a portfolio turnover rate of 11%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 48% for the Large Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C returned 4.1%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Large Blend category had an average return of 0.4%. 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 funds in that category.

Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C has a trailing yield of 0.01%, which is below the 0.56% 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.

Dearborn Partners Rising Dividend C Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.5%, 7.8 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned -0.8% over the past year (grade of F), 5.6% over the past three years (grade of F) and 4.5% per year over the past five years (grade of F) and 8.1% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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