Building an ETF Dividend-Performance Screener (Python)
Data Sourced with Financial Modeling Prep APIs
So I thought may be a good time to work on my dividend generating portfolio. But which ETFs to chose? There are thousands of ETFs just on the US market…
So I thought I’d create a screener that finds the best Dividend/Performance ETFs out there. Interested to find out how I did it? Then let’s go!
This story is solely for general information purposes, and should not be relied upon for trading recommendations or financial advice. Source code and information is provided for educational purposes only, and should not be relied upon to make an investment decision. Please review my full cautionary guidance before continuing.
Why use ETFs versus Individual Stocks?
Choosing between investing in ETFs and individual stocks really boils down to personal preference. When you pick individual stocks, you can zero in on specific ones based on their history of dividend payments, dividend growth rates and returns. This approach might give you better results, but it's also riskier.
Personally, I lean towards using ETFs for a big part of my dividend-generating portfolio, and here's why:
The risk is spread out across several securities, which is a big plus for me.
The fund managers handle the heavy lifting - like picking high-dividend stocks and managing the portfolio.
A lot of ETFs have a solid track record when it comes to consistent dividend payouts and returns.
Of course when using ETFs you always have to be mindful of management fees - something to keep in mind.
What is FinancialModelingPrep?
In this tutorial we will use FinancialModelingPrep (FMP) APIs to retrieve all our data.
FinancialModelingPrep is a financial data service provider for live and historical data with one of the most extensive API suites available for retail traders. The APIs range from stock prices, financial statements (income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements), company fundamentals, market data, financial ratios, and many specialized data sets. The main types of assets covered are equities, crypto and FOREX.
The main features of this platforms are:
Comprehensive financial information for equities, crypto and FOREX
Access to financial calendars like earnings, dividends, stock splits and IPO calendar
Access to group trading information like insider trading, senate trading
Affordable tired plans for retail traders
Easy REST API integration using API keys
Historical market data ideas for backtesting strategies
Detailed documentation including integration examples.
Useful links: