Overview
I
Shares
DIVGX
Inception
Date
05.01.2019
Investment
Min.
$1,000,000
Philosophy & Process
Placing particular focus on earnings growth, dividend growth and dividend quality - the sub-adviser combines artificial and human intelligence, and intrinsic valuation to provide a modern approach to portfolio construction, incorporating the advantages of big data with the experience and perspective of our experienced investment team.
The Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation and current income, primarily through investment in a portfolio of equity or equity-related securities of issuers with business operations located throughout the world.
Investment Considerations
The investment team and the Guardian Capital sub-advisor employs a systematic, bottom-up approach to seek out companies that they believe have the potential for both capital growth and sustainable dividend yield. This quantitative approach integrates proprietary artificial intelligence models to analyze fundamental factors, relative value and capital growth potential of companies within a broad universe of stocks.
The investment team combines artificial intelligence–enabled research tools and human judgment to construct a high-conviction portfolio of companies that the sub-adviser believes are well positioned for long-term growth, diversified across sectors and regions.
| Term | Class I Shares |
|---|---|
| Ticker | DIVGX |
| Inception Date | 05.01.2019 |
| Investment Min. | $1,000,000 |
Co-Portfolio Manager
Co-Portfolio Manager
Performance
| Term | QTR | YTD | 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | Since Inception |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institutional Shares | 1.07% | 1.07% | 14.22% | 15.23% | 10.95% | 11.30% |
| Lipper Global Equity Income Median | 1.68% | 1.68% | 18.82% | 14.09% | 8.73% | N/A |
The total expense ratio for Class I Shares is 0.95%. The gross expense ratio for Class I Shares is 1.01%. The net expense ratio for Class I Shares is 0.95%.
The Fund's investment advisor, Sterling Capital Management LLC., has contractually agreed to waive its fees, pay Fund operating expenses, and/or reimburse the Fund through January 31, 2027. Performance would have been lower without limitations in effect.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit the the performance summary.
The performance of the Guardian Capital Dividend Growth Fund reflects the deduction of fees for value-added services associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The inception date for Institutional Shares is 05.01.2019. The performance shown reflects the reinvestment of all dividend and capital gains distributions. Performance is annualized for periods greater than one year.
Characteristics
| # | Company Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple Inc. | 5.43% |
| 2 | Broadcom Inc. | 5.20% |
| 3 | Williams Companies, Inc. | 5.19% |
| 4 | Costco Wholesale Corp. | 4.90% |
| 5 | AXA SA | 4.71% |
| 6 | Microsoft Corp. | 4.54% |
| 7 | ASML Holding NV Sponsored ADR | 4.47% |
| 8 | TotalEnergies SE | 4.42% |
| 9 | Allianz SE | 4.41% |
| 10 | Alphabet Inc. Class A | 4.17% |
Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to change and risk. Based on Market Value of securities.
Growth of $10,000 as of 03.31.2026
The Growth of $10,000 is hypothetical based upon the performance of net I Shares at NAV for the period ended 03.31.2026. It includes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains.
Statistics
| Term | Value |
|---|---|
| Alpha | 0.56 |
| Beta | 0.80 |
| R-Squared | 83.06 |
| Standard Deviation | 13.30 |
| Sharpe Ratio | 0.59 |
1The Funds composition is subject to change. Alpha, Beta, R-Squared, Standard Deviation, and Sharpe Ratio are based on a 10-year calculation.
View a Glossary of Terms.
| Term | Value |
|---|---|
| Weighted Median P/E | 29.90x |
| Weighted Average P/B | 11.99x |
| Weighted Average Market Cap | $766.71B |
| Annual Turnover2 | 66% |
2Annual Turnover Ratio reflects a 12-month rolling calculation and is presented as of 09.30.2025, the most recent fiscal year end.
Dividend Growth Fund
Materials
Equity Funds
Insights
06.11.2026 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®
The Lead - Identifying Opportunities
While AI has been an important theme in the market year to date, fundamental characteristics such as quality, earnings stability, valuation, and earnings surprises (or often called earnings momentum) are also important in our opinion due to the historic levels of their impact on stock market returns this year. We note how stocks that have quality characteristics that have tended to generate attractive long term relative performance characteristics have continued to become more attractive on a valuation basis. Assessing dynamics such as those discussed this month provides insight into interaction among investment team members as we seek to identify underlying trends for potential mispricings as we constantly assess our current holdings and potential opportunities.
05.11.2026 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®
One of the beauties of dividend growth investing is that companies with a history of not only sharing their earnings through dividend payments to their shareholders, but increasing those dividends provides valuable insight into their priorities and ability to pay amounts that can grow over time. But despite higher corporate earnings, the percentage shared with their shareholders has been falling over the past several years. If there is value in scarcity with dividend growth scarce, companies that not only pay dividends, but growth them faster than the market appear to have a valuable quality.
04.13.2026 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®
The Lead - Revisionist History
This month Empirical Research provided additional data around the uniquely strong period for the performance of earnings revisions that couple with their observation that recent price momentum has been the strongest in seven decades. The 2020’s have seen the strongest performance for earnings revisions since the 1980’s. Our observation is that the uniquely strong performance of earnings revisions has been reflected in higher valuations for these securities with attractive valuations in more stable and consistent earnings growers.
03.11.2026 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®
The Lead - Signposts for Quality Improvement
This month we look back in history for signs when quality stocks began to experience relative performance improvement trends. We identify two themes and provide a perspective on the current environment. Finally, we assess current valuations of higher quality stocks versus lower quality across a variety of metrics.
02.11.2026 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®
The Lead - Stability in a Dynamic Market
This month we examine another determinant of “quality” in stocks, stability. We provide perspective of this characteristic to understand its performance in this dynamic market. We find stocks with low volatility and high earnings stability were challenged last year and particularly in 4Q25, explaining performance of strategies focused on quality. Finally, we describe why measurements of quality incorporated stability into their assessment as a key investment principle.
01.13.2026 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®
Stocks with quality characteristics experienced a challenging 2025. We put quality stock performance in perspective relative to other styles and historically. We also discuss reasons why quality tends to perform differently from risk (beta).
Contact
Learn more about Sterling Capital solutions and services.
© 2026 Morningstar. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or "star rating", is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.
