What happened
According to a SEC filing dated December 09, 2025, Mainstay Capital Management LLC/ADV established a new position in First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI - First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV +0.71%), acquiring 961,923 shares. The estimated transaction value is $94.84 million, calculated using the average price during the quarter. The fund’s quarter-end position in TDIV was valued at $94.84 million, which includes both the purchase and subsequent price movements.
What else to know
- This is a new position for the fund, representing 9.51% of its 13F reportable assets under management as of September 30, 2025.
- Top holdings after the filing:
- NYSEMKT:SPMO: $165.16 million (16.6% of AUM)
- NASDAQ: TDIV: $94.84 million (9.5% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT:SPYG: $83.61 million (8.4% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT:QGRO: $73.66 million (7.4% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT:CGDV: $70.99 million (7.1% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT:GDE: $66.13 million (6.6% of AUM)
- As of December 9, 2025, TDIV shares were priced at $100.91, up 26.5% over one year; one-year alpha versus the S&P 500 was 13.13 percentage points.
- TDIV’s annualized dividend yield was 1.30% as of December 10, 2025; shares were 2.18% below their 52-week high
ETF overview
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| AUM | $3.7 billion |
| Dividend Yield | 1.30% |
| Price (as of market close 2025-12-09) | $100.91 |
| 1-Year Price Change | 26.52% |
ETF snapshot
- The fund seeks to track the performance of the NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index, focusing on technology and telecommunications companies that pay regular dividends.
- Its portfolio consists of up to 100 dividend-paying technology and telecom equities, providing exposure to large-cap and mid-cap issuers in these sectors.
- The ETF is structured as a passively managed fund, with a non-diversified approach and a transparent, rules-based methodology that emphasizes income generation and sector allocation.
First Trust NASDAQ Technology Dividend Index Fund (TDIV) offers investors targeted access to dividend-paying technology and telecommunications companies through a transparent, index-based strategy.
The fund's approach combines sector-specific exposure with a focus on income, appealing to those seeking both growth and yield in the technology space. Its transparent, rules-based methodology aims to offer investors exposure to the technology and telecommunications sectors, focusing on regular dividend payers.
What this transaction means for investors
Mainstay Capital Management initiating a position in the TDIV ETF is significant because it was a substantial buy, immediately catapulting the ETF to the second largest holding in the fund. The action suggests Mainstay Capital is bullish on TDIV.
The ETF is attractive considering it targets the tech and telecom sectors, two areas benefiting from the advent of artificial intelligence. The TDIV ETF stands to benefit from the tailwind of the AI market's expansion over the coming years, as businesses and governments around the world adopt AI.
Contributing to the growth from AI is TDIV's added focus on stocks that pay a dividend. This provides passive income, but of course, the dividend payout can change over time as companies increase, decrease, or even cut their dividends, as many did during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, while TDIV holds some risk, especially since the stocks in the ETF are concentrated in specific industries susceptible to high volatility, it seems Mainstay Capital sees the AI tailwind as a key factor in the attractiveness of this particular ETF, which could make now a good time to invest in TDIV.
Glossary
13F reportable assets: Assets that institutional investment managers must disclose quarterly to the SEC, showing their equity holdings.
Assets under management (AUM): The total market value of investments managed on behalf of clients by a financial institution or fund.
Quarterly average pricing: The average price of a security over a specific quarter, used for estimating transaction values.
Dividend yield: Annual dividends paid by a security divided by its current price, expressed as a percentage.
Alpha: A measure of an investment's performance compared to a benchmark, showing excess return or outperformance.
ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund): An investment fund traded on stock exchanges, holding a basket of assets like stocks or bonds.
Index-based strategy: An investment approach where a fund aims to replicate the performance of a specific market index.
Passively managed fund: A fund that tracks a market index rather than actively selecting investments, aiming to match index returns.
Non-diversified approach: A fund strategy that concentrates investments in fewer securities or sectors, increasing potential risk and reward.
Rules-based methodology: An investment process that follows predetermined, systematic criteria for selecting and weighting assets.
Dividend-paying equities: Stocks of companies that regularly distribute a portion of earnings to shareholders as dividends.
