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Should Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 ETF (IVOO) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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The Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 ETF (IVOO - Free Report) was launched on 09/09/2010, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Vanguard. It has amassed assets over $1.52 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Mid Cap Blend

With market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion, mid cap companies usually contain higher growth prospects than large cap companies, and are considered less risky than their small cap counterparts. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

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

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 0.10%, putting it on par with most peer products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.55%.

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 to the Industrials sector--about 21.30% of the portfolio. Consumer Discretionary and Financials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Steel Dynamics Inc. (STLD - Free Report) accounts for about 0.82% of total assets, followed by First Solar Inc. (FSLR - Free Report) and Fair Isaac Corp. (FICO - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 5.93% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

IVOO seeks to match the performance of the S&P MidCap 400 Index before fees and expenses. The S&P MidCap 400 Index measures the performance of the mid-cap segment of the U.S. equity universe. The Index is a capitalization-weighted index composed of 400 domestic common stocks.

The ETF has gained about 3.77% so far this year and is down about -6.01% in the last one year (as of 04/04/2023). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $74.30 and $91.88.

The ETF has a beta of 1.13 and standard deviation of 23.88% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 402 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IVOO is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO - Free Report) and the iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH - Free Report) track a similar index. While Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF has $52.01 billion in assets, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF has $66.39 billion. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.05%.

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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