Launched on 04/03/2018, the iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (IFRA) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Utilities - Infrastructure segment of the equity market.
While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.
Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Utilities - Infrastructure is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 12, placing it in bottom 25%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.79 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Utilities - Infrastructure segment of the equity market. IFRA seeks to match the performance of the NYSE FACTSET U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX before fees and expenses.
The NYSE FactSet U.S. Infrastructure Index comprises of equities of U.S. companies that have infrastructure exposure and that could benefit from a potential increase in domestic infrastructure activities.
Costs
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.30%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.96%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
Even though ETFs offer diversified exposure that minimizes single stock risk, investors should also look at the actual holdings inside the fund. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Utilities sector--about 43% of the portfolio. Industrials and Materials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Blk Csh Fnd Treasury Sl Agency (XTSLA) accounts for about 1.27% of total assets, followed by Vistra Corp (VST) and Mge Energy Inc (MGEE).
The top 10 holdings account for about 8.38% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
So far this year, IFRA has added about 2.75%, and is up about 0.20% in the last one year (as of 05/01/2023). During this past 52-week period, the fund has traded between $32.24 and $39.80.
The ETF has a beta of 1.03 and standard deviation of 22.32% for the trailing three-year period. With about 166 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.