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Should You Invest in the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF)?
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Designed to provide broad exposure to the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market, the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 05/01/2006.
An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they 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 8, placing it in top 50%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $899.99 million, 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
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.40%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.81%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer a 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.
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 24.29% of total assets, followed by Elevance Health Inc (ELV - Free Report) and Cvs Health Corp (CVS - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 75.80% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, IHF has lost about -2.06%, and is down about -1.71% in the last one year (as of 01/29/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $241.82 and $268.07.
The ETF has a beta of 0.73 and standard deviation of 17.52% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 72 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)?
Designed to provide broad exposure to the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market, the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 05/01/2006.
An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they 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 8, placing it in top 50%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $899.99 million, 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
Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.40%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.81%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
ETFs offer a 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.
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 24.29% of total assets, followed by Elevance Health Inc (ELV - Free Report) and Cvs Health Corp (CVS - Free Report) .
The top 10 holdings account for about 75.80% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, IHF has lost about -2.06%, and is down about -1.71% in the last one year (as of 01/29/2024). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $241.82 and $268.07.
The ETF has a beta of 0.73 and standard deviation of 17.52% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 72 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.