The ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF did exactly what its mandate promised over the past decade: it owned established companies with long records of annual dividend growth. It did not deliver the highest total return among a hand-picked group of dividend funds.
A 24/7 Wall St. comparison measured NOBL and ten popular dividend ETFs from October 11, 2016 through October 9, 2026, with distributions reinvested. NOBL returned 158.94%. Six funds finished ahead, led by the iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF at 258.3%. Fidelity High Dividend returned 252.34%, Vanguard Dividend Appreciation 251.34%, Schwab US Dividend Equity 233.8% and Vanguard High Dividend Yield 201.93%. The iShares Select Dividend ETF was only 5.24 percentage points ahead of NOBL, a gap small enough to be sensitive to the chosen dates.
The result is useful, but it is not a clean ranking of interchangeable products. NOBL tracks an equal-weighted index of S&P 500 companies that have increased dividends for at least 25 consecutive years. Other dividend ETFs use different screens for growth, yield, profitability, market value or volatility. Those choices produce different sector exposures and different participation in growth-led markets.
Official ProShares data provides a standardized cross-check. As of September 30, 2026, NOBL's ten-year annualized market-price return was 9.45%, compared with 9.85% for its index. The fund had 71 holdings at August 31 and a 2.09% 30-day SEC yield. Those figures use a different end date and reporting convention from the source comparison, so they should not be forced into an exact reconciliation.
The broad conclusion survives those measurement differences. A rule that rewards long dividend histories can favor mature businesses and underweight faster-growing companies. That can reduce upside when the market rewards growth, even if the same discipline helps in some drawdowns. ProShares says the strategy has historically captured much of rising-market gains with less severe declines and lower volatility than the S&P 500, but past behavior is not a guarantee.
Investors should choose between these funds by job, not by one leaderboard. NOBL is a focused way to own long-established dividend growers. DGRO, VIG and SCHD apply different quality and growth filters that produced better returns in this particular window. Income needs, tax treatment, sector concentration and willingness to lag a growth market all matter.