Designed to provide broad exposure to the European Equity ETFs category of the market, the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity ETF (HEDJ) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 01/04/2010.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Wisdomtree, HEDJ has amassed assets over $1.82 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the European Equity ETFs. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Index before fees and expenses.
The WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Index is designed to provide exposure to European equities while at the same time neutralizing exposure to fluctuations between the Euro and the U.S. dollar.
Cost & Other Expenses
Investors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.58%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.78%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer diversified exposure and thus minimize single stock risk, but it is still important to delve into a fund's holdings before investing. Most ETFs are very transparent products and many disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
Looking at individual holdings, European Euro (eur) accounts for about 100% of total assets, followed by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Sa (BBVA) and Asml Holding Nv (ASMLO).
The top 10 holdings account for about 140.05% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 9.11% so far this year and is up roughly 17.4% in the last one year (as of 09/03/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $49.37 and $58.22
The ETF has a beta of 0.75 and standard deviation of 15.61% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 132 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity ETF is not a suitable option for investors seeking to outperform the European Equity ETFs segment of the market. Instead, there are other ETFs in the space which investors should consider.
iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF (EZU) tracks MSCI EMU Index and the Vanguard European Stock Index Fund ETF Shares (VGK) tracks FTSE Developed Europe All Cap Index. iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF has $9.82 billion in assets, Vanguard European Stock Index Fund ETF Shares has $30.56 billion. EZU has an expense ratio of 0.50% and VGK changes 0.06%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the European Equity ETFs
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity ETF (HEDJ): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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