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Should John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM) Be on Your Investing Radar?

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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Mid Cap Blend segment of the US equity market, look no further than the John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF (JHMM - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on 09/28/2015.

The fund is sponsored by John Hancock. It has amassed assets over $1.21 B, 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

Mid cap companies, with market capitalization in the range of $2 billion and $10 billion, offer investors many things that small and large companies don't, including less risk and higher growth opportunities. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.

Typically holding a combination of both growth and value stocks, blend ETFs also demonstrate qualities seen in value and growth investments.

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 0.44%, making it one of the more expensive products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.20%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation to the Information Technology sector--about 18.10% of the portfolio. Industrials and Financials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, L3harris Technologies Inc (LHX - Free Report) accounts for about 0.77% of total assets, followed by Xcel Energy Inc (XEL - Free Report) and United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL - Free Report) .

The top 10 holdings account for about 3.8% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

JHMM seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index before fees and expenses. The John Hancock Dimensional Mid Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are between the 200th and 951st largest U.S. company.

The ETF return is roughly 21.07% so far this year and is up about 2.11% in the last one year (as of 09/10/2019). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $28.59 and $37.48.

The ETF has a beta of 1.10 and standard deviation of 12.92% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 684 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

John Hancock Multifactor Mid Cap ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, JHMM is a sufficient option for those seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Blend area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

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 $26.76 B in assets, iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF has $49.35 B. VO has an expense ratio of 0.04% and IJH charges 0.07%.

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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