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Is Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL) a Strong ETF Right Now?
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A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL - Free Report) debuted on 04/26/2017, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by Franklin Templeton Investments. It has amassed assets over $1.61 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index.
The LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell 1000 Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell 1000 Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors quality, value, momentum and low volatility.
Cost & Other Expenses
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.
With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.13%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
FLQL's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 35% of the portfolio. Its Healthcare and Telecom round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 6.42% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Apple Inc (AAPL).
The top 10 holdings account for about 34.29% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 13.39% so far this year and was up about 23.47% in the last one year (as of 08/13/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $50.10 and $66.15
The fund has a beta of 0.94 and standard deviation of 16.24% for the trailing three-year period. With about 217 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) tracks S&P 500 Index and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $657.19 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $722.37 billion. SPY has an expense ratio of 0.09% and VOO changes 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Blend
Bottom Line
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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Is Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL) a Strong ETF Right Now?
A smart beta exchange traded fund, the Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF (FLQL - Free Report) debuted on 04/26/2017, and offers broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
Products that are based on market cap weighted indexes, which are strategies designed to reflect a specific market segment or the market as a whole, have traditionally dominated the ETF industry.
Because market cap weighted indexes provide a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, they work well for investors who believe in market efficiency.
However, some investors believe in the possibility of beating the market through exceptional stock selection, and choose a different type of fund that tracks non-cap weighted strategies: smart beta.
Non-cap weighted indexes try to choose stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance, which is based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a mix of other such characteristics.
This area offers many different investment choices, such as simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies; however, not all of these strategies can deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
The fund is sponsored by Franklin Templeton Investments. It has amassed assets over $1.61 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index.
The LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell 1000 Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell 1000 Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors quality, value, momentum and low volatility.
Cost & Other Expenses
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.
With one of the cheaper products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.15%.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.13%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
FLQL's heaviest allocation is in the Information Technology sector, which is about 35% of the portfolio. Its Healthcare and Telecom round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 6.42% of total assets, followed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT) and Apple Inc (AAPL).
The top 10 holdings account for about 34.29% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF return is roughly 13.39% so far this year and was up about 23.47% in the last one year (as of 08/13/2025). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $50.10 and $66.15
The fund has a beta of 0.94 and standard deviation of 16.24% for the trailing three-year period. With about 217 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
Franklin U.S. Large Cap Multifactor Index ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) tracks S&P 500 Index and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $657.19 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $722.37 billion. SPY has an expense ratio of 0.09% and VOO changes 0.03%.
Investors looking for cheaper and lower-risk options should consider traditional market cap weighted ETFs that aim to match the returns of the Style Box - Large Cap Blend
Bottom Line
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.