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Looking for broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market? You should consider the John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF (JHML), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 09/28/2015.

The fund is sponsored by John Hancock. It has amassed assets over $866.50 million, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Blend

Large cap companies typically have a market capitalization above $10 billion. They tend to be stable companies with predictable cash flows and are usually less volatile than mid and small cap companies.

Blend ETFs usually hold a mix of growth and value stocks as well as stocks that exhibit both value and growth characteristics.

Costs

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 0.29%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.28%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 24% of the portfolio. Financials and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Microsoft Corp (MSFT) accounts for about 4.06% of total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN).

The top 10 holdings account for about 19.51% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

JHML seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Large Cap Index before fees and expenses. The John Hancock Dimensional Large Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are larger than that of the 801st largest U.S. company.

The ETF has gained about 8.74% so far this year and is up about 25.76% in the last one year (as of 05/14/2024). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $50.68 and $64.76.

The ETF has a beta of 1.01 and standard deviation of 16.74% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 771 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, JHML is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) track a similar index. While iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $453.91 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $514.83 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and SPY charges 0.09%.

Bottom-Line

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

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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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.