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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF)?
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The iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF - Free Report) was launched on 05/01/2006, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market.
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.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 6, placing it in top 38%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.43 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market. IHF seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select HealthCare Providers Index before fees and expenses.
The Dow Jones U.S. Select HealthCare Providers Index is free-float adjusted market capitalization-weighted index. It measures the performance of the health care providers sub-sector of the U.S. equity market. It includes health maintenance organizations, hospitals, clinics, dentists, opticians, nursing homes rehabilitation & retirement centres.
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 0.39%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.75%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector--about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH - Free Report) accounts for about 22.45% of total assets, followed by Cvs Health Corp (CVS - Free Report) and Elevance Health Inc (ELV - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 66.48% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -1.88% so far this year and is down about -3.45% in the last one year (as of 01/18/2023). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $239.35 and $295.88.
The ETF has a beta of 0.84 and standard deviation of 27.27% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 73 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
IShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IHF is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF)?
The iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF - Free Report) was launched on 05/01/2006, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market.
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.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 6, placing it in top 38%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.43 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market. IHF seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select HealthCare Providers Index before fees and expenses.
The Dow Jones U.S. Select HealthCare Providers Index is free-float adjusted market capitalization-weighted index. It measures the performance of the health care providers sub-sector of the U.S. equity market. It includes health maintenance organizations, hospitals, clinics, dentists, opticians, nursing homes rehabilitation & retirement centres.
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 0.39%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.75%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector--about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH - Free Report) accounts for about 22.45% of total assets, followed by Cvs Health Corp (CVS - Free Report) and Elevance Health Inc (ELV - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 66.48% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -1.88% so far this year and is down about -3.45% in the last one year (as of 01/18/2023). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $239.35 and $295.88.
The ETF has a beta of 0.84 and standard deviation of 27.27% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 73 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
IShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IHF is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Health Care ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.