FDL
First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund
First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund
ETFIndex fund
Expense ratio1
0.43%
Net assets2
$7.35B
Holdings2
87
Category
US Equity
2025 return3
14.88%

Investment objective & strategy

As of April 30, 2025 · prospectus

Objective. The First Trust Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index Fund (the Fund ) seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Funds fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Morningstar Dividend Leaders Index SM (the Index ).

Strategy. The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Morningstar, Inc. (the Index Provider ). The Index Provider serves as the index calculation agent. The Index Provider continually reviews the Index methodology to account for factors such as evolving market trends, feedback received from market participants or as an endeavor to adopt evolving best practices in the industry. Such reviews may cause the Index Provider to change the Index construction or calculation methodology, as well as the Index's treatment of … The Fund will normally invest at least 90% of its net assets (including investment borrowings) in the securities that comprise the Index. The Fund, using an indexing investment approach, attempts to replicate, before fees and expenses, the performance of the Index. The Index is developed, maintained and sponsored by Morningstar, Inc. (the Index Provider ). The Index Provider serves as the index calculation agent. The Index Provider continually reviews the Index methodology to account for factors such as evolving market trends, feedback received from market participants or as an endeavor to adopt evolving best practices in the industry. Such reviews may cause the Index Provider to change the Index construction or calculation methodology, as well as the Index's treatment of various corporate actions. Such changes can impact the Indexs selection universe, portfolio composition or the Indexs on-going maintenance. The Index is designed to target the 100 highest-yielding stocks from the Morningstar Dividend Composite Index, which screens for records of consistent dividend payments and stocks' capacity to sustain their dividends. The securities comprising the Morningstar US Market Index SM (the Base Index ) serve as the Funds selection universe. The Base Index measures the performance of large-, mid- and small-cap stocks in the U.S., representing the top 97% of the investable universe by market capitalization. According to the Index Provider, to be eligible for inclusion in the Base Index, a security must be listed on a qualifying U.S. securities exchange and be issued by a company incorporated in the United States or its territories and whose primary stock market activities are conducted in the United States. Securities issued by companies incorporated outside the United States and its territories may nonetheless be included in the Base Index if the company files a Form 10-K/10-Q or equivalents, and its primary business activities, as measured by the geographic distribution of revenue and assets, are conducted in the United States. The Base Index also excludes securities based on liquidity standards , among other criteria, determined by the Index Provider. From this universe, according to the Index Provider, the Index further excludes any securities issuing dividend payments that do not constitute qualifying income ( i.e. , real estate investment trusts). In order to be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a security must also have a positive dividend yield, a five-year dividend per share growth greater than or equal to 0 and a dividend coverage ratio greater than 1 . A securitys coverage ratio equals its one-year forecast of earnings per share divided by its indicated dividend per share. All remaining securities are then ranked by indicated dividend yield and the top 100 securities are selected for inclusion in the Index. The Index weights the component securities based upon an indicated dividend dollar weighted methodology. Weights are adjusted so that no individual security has a weight of greater than 10% and securities with a weight of more than 5% do not collectively exceed 50% of the entire portfolio. The Index is rebalanced quarterly and reconstituted annually and the Fund will make corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after the Index changes are made public. The Indexs quarterly rebalance schedule may cause the Fund to experience a higher rate of portfolio turnover. The Fund will be concentrated in an industry or a group of industries to the extent that the Index is so concentrated. As of March 31, 2025, the Index was composed of 95 securities. The Funds investments will change as the Index changes and, as a result, the Fund may have significant investments in jurisdictions or investment sectors that it may not have had as of March 31, 2025. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a given jurisdiction or investment sector, the Fund may be exposed to the risks associated with that jurisdiction or investment sector.

Top holdings

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
SecurityTickerValue% of fund
EXXON MOBIL CORP $812.49M 11.05%
CHEVRON CORP $670.45M 9.12%
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC $540.60M 7.36%
PFIZER INC $476.62M 6.48%
MERCK & CO $404.68M 5.51%
PEPSICO INC $349.64M 4.76%
ALTRIA GROUP INC $327.33M 4.45%
BRISTOL-MYERS SQUIBB CO $239.47M 3.26%
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC CL B $222.80M 3.03%
CONOCOPHILLIPS $218.42M 2.97%
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Allocation by sector

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
View portfolio breakdown →

Portfolio moves

Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026
Opened
1
Exited
4
Increased
73
Decreased
13
Unchanged
0

How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.

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Advisers

As of December 31, 2025 · N-CEN
FirmRole
First Trust Advisors L.P. Adviser

Footnotes

  1. Expense ratio as of April 30, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
  2. Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
  3. Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2025 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).

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