What Is DFAT? Dimensional U.S. Targeted Value ETF
Last updated September 2026
Short answer
DFAT is Dimensional U.S. Targeted Value ETF, an ETF that tracks Actively managed, no tracked index at a 0.28% expense ratio. DFAT is unusually flat. Its largest position, Amkor Technology, is 0.7%, and the ten biggest holdings together account for roughly 6.7% of the fund. Small-cap value is where that structure makes most sense, because individual small companies carry idiosyncratic risk that broad ownership dilutes. Financials are the largest sector at 29%, followed by industrials at 17%, consumer discretionary at 15%, energy at 10% and technology at 9%. Dimensional charges 0.28%, the fund holds $14.3B, distributes 1.37% and dates from 1998.
DFAT is issued by Dimensional Fund Advisors and tracks Actively managed, no tracked index. It charges a 0.28% expense ratio, holds approximately $14.3B in assets under management, yields about 1.37%, and launched in 1998.
A portfolio with no important stocks
Amkor Technology, Toll Brothers, Permian Resources, Ball, CNH Industrial, BorgWarner and Performance Food Group all sit at 0.7%. Below them, Ovintiv, JM Smucker and Ally Financial sit at 0.6%. There is no meaningful gap between the largest holding and the fiftieth. If the top position halved tomorrow, the fund would move by a third of one percent.
That is a deliberate answer to a specific problem. Small companies fail, get acquired, restate earnings and lose their only major customer far more often than large ones do. A concentrated small-cap portfolio inherits that fragility. A portfolio holding hundreds of names at fractions of a percent converts single-company risk into something closer to an exposure to the asset class itself.
The trade is that nothing any one company does will move the fund much in either direction. Anyone looking to the fund for the specific stories inside it is looking in the wrong place. What you are buying is the aggregate behaviour of cheap, smaller US companies.
Small value is banks, builders and drillers
Financials at 29% dominate, and in small-cap terms that mostly means regional and community banks, insurers and specialty lenders. Ally Financial is the visible example in the top ten. Banks trade close to book value and are the single most reliable source of holdings for any value screen, which is why the weight is nearly twice what a broad market fund would carry.
Industrials at 17% and consumer discretionary at 15% pick up the rest of the cyclical economy. Toll Brothers is a homebuilder, CNH Industrial makes agricultural and construction machinery, BorgWarner supplies vehicle components, Performance Food Group distributes food. These are asset-heavy businesses whose fortunes turn on construction activity, freight volumes and capital spending.
Energy at 10% adds Permian Resources and Ovintiv, both oil and gas producers. Technology at 9% is the smallest of the five listed sectors, and even there the representation is Amkor, a semiconductor packaging and test provider, which is a manufacturing business rather than a software one. The overall shape is a fund geared to the physical economy.
The 1998 date, the 0.28% fee and the 1.37% yield
The 1998 inception predates the fund's life in an ETF wrapper. Dimensional ran this strategy as a mutual fund for many years before it traded on an exchange, and the inception date carries over. That is useful context if you are looking at long-dated performance charts, because the earlier part of any such record reflects the mutual fund structure and its costs, not the ETF.
0.28% is higher than a plain small-cap index fund and lower than a discretionary small-cap manager. Small stocks cost more to trade than large ones, and a fund holding hundreds of them incurs real implementation costs regardless of how systematic it is. Dimensional's argument for the fee is patient trading rather than security selection: it does not have to buy on a fixed index reconstitution date, which reduces the price it pays for liquidity.
The 1.37% yield is low for something labelled value, and for the same reason as elsewhere in the category: the selection screen is based on price relative to book value, not on dividends. Many small companies pay nothing at all. Anyone holding DFAT for income will find it does not do that job.
DFAT holdings: top 10
Approximate weights as of August 2026. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.
How do I invest in DFAT?
There are three common ways to get DFAT exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) of DFAT directly at any major broker that lists it. Hold it as a core position and layer more concentrated ideas on top. Or build it into a thematic portfolio in Walnut, so DFAT sits alongside other holdings that express the same thesis, with target weights you can rebalance toward. DFAT trades like a stock during market hours, so you buy it the same way you would any listed share.
New to buying funds? See how to buy an ETF, step by step.
Is DFAT a good buy?
Whether DFAT is a good buy depends less on any single call and more on your time horizon and what you already hold: it tracks Actively managed, no tracked index, so the real question is whether you want that exposure in your mix and at what weight. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is DFAT a buy?
The bottom line on DFAT
DFAT gives you Actively managed, no tracked index exposure in one ticker at a 0.28% expense ratio. Most investors use it as a core holding and layer more concentrated thematic portfolios on top.
More on DFAT
Whether DFAT is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is DFAT a buy?
DFAT yields 1.37% as of August 2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see DFAT dividend: yield and schedule.
New to funds like DFAT? Start with what an ETF is, then how to buy an ETF, or browse the full guide to ETF investing.
Wondering how DFAT fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in DFAT with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how DFAT fits what you actually hold: what it overlaps with, what it leaves you exposed to, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
Why is the biggest holding only 0.7%?
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Because the fund holds a very large number of small companies at deliberately small weights. Individual small caps carry a high level of company-specific risk: a lost contract, a failed financing, a restatement. Spreading exposure across hundreds of names converts that into exposure to the small-value asset class as a whole. The cost is that no single holding can meaningfully help the fund either.
What does targeted value mean in the name?
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It signals that the fund aims at the deeper end of the value range within small caps, rather than holding the whole small-cap market with a mild tilt. Dimensional screens on price relative to book value with adjustments for profitability and investment behaviour. The result is a portfolio concentrated in cheaper, more asset-heavy businesses than a plain small-cap index would produce.
Why are financials 29% of the fund?
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Small-cap value screens select banks almost mechanically. Regional and community banks trade near book value in most conditions, so a book-based screen finds them in quantity. Insurers and specialty lenders add to the count. The practical implication is real sensitivity to credit quality, deposit costs and interest margins, more so than a broad small-cap fund would carry.
Is DFAT an index fund?
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No. It is actively managed, though the process is systematic rather than discretionary. The absence of a tracked index is central to the approach: Dimensional does not have to trade on a fixed index reconstitution date, which it argues reduces the cost of buying and selling illiquid small-cap shares. There is no benchmark tracking error to monitor day to day.
How does DFAT compare with a small-cap value index fund?
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An index fund in the same category rebalances on set dates and applies a published rule set, which makes its holdings predictable and its trading visible to other market participants. DFAT trades opportunistically and adds profitability and investment screens on top of the value screen. Holdings overlap heavily; the differences show up in implementation cost and in the exact depth of the value tilt.
Does the 1998 inception mean it has traded as an ETF since then?
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No. The strategy existed as a mutual fund well before it traded on an exchange, and the inception date reflects that earlier life. When reading long-dated charts for this fund, remember that the early portion reflects mutual fund mechanics, share classes and cost structures rather than the current ETF. The strategy is continuous; the wrapper is not.
Why is the yield only 1.37% for a value fund?
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The screen is price against book value and profitability, not dividend yield. Many smaller companies retain all their earnings, and plenty pay nothing. A high-dividend small-cap fund would look completely different, weighting toward utilities, REITs and mature payers. If income is the goal, DFAT's 1.37% distribution is not where that comes from.
Who typically uses a fund like this?
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Investors who already hold a large-cap core position and want exposure to a different part of the market: smaller, cheaper, more cyclical companies with almost no overlap with an S&P 500 fund. It is a diversifier by construction rather than a standalone holding, and its behaviour can diverge from the large-cap market for long stretches, in both directions.
What is DFAT's expense ratio?
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DFAT has an expense ratio of 0.28% per year as of August 2026, charged by Dimensional Fund Advisors and deducted from the fund's value rather than billed to you separately. On a $10,000 position that is roughly $28 a year. Fees compound over time, so on a long-term holding the expense ratio is one of the few return drivers you control. It is worth comparing against other funds that track Actively managed, no tracked index before you choose.
How do I compare DFAT to similar ETFs?
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Put a few fields side by side: the expense ratio (fees compound over decades), the index or strategy it tracks, the top holdings and how much they overlap with what you already own, the dividend yield, and the AUM, liquidity, and bid-ask spread that affect trading costs. For index funds, tracking error (how closely it follows its index) and tax efficiency matter too. DFAT's figures are above; the full method is in Walnut's guide on how to compare ETFs.
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Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Holdings weights and fund statistics on this page are approximations stamped to August 2026; verify current figures against Dimensional Fund Advisors's fund page or your broker before investing.