In keeping with yesterday’s theme of ETF “fund of funds,” where we spoke about ACCU (AdvisorShares Accuvest Global Opportunities ETF, Expense Ratio 1.25%) the usually dormant fund traded a giant 350,000 share block in the afternoon session (against ADV of about 16,000 shares), today we focus on another relatively new, approach in YYY (YieldShares High Income ETF, Expense Ratio 1.65%).
YYY was launched in June of last year and fits into the “Diversified Portfolio” or “Multi-Asset” category, tracking the ISE High Income Index.
The index tracks thirty separate closed-end funds that according to ETFdb.com are “ranked highest overall by the ISE in three criteria: fund yield, discount to net asset value, and liquidity.”
Thus far, the fund has attracted about $37 million in assets under management which is a respectable total in less than a year’s time in what is unquestionably a competitive environment for asset raising among ETF sponsors. It is likely that investors that have purchased YYY thus far are drawn by the fund’s SEC 30 Day Yield of 8.38% (Distribution Yield of 8.46%, according to fund literature) and the fund’s desire to provide portfolio diversification through allocating via different asset classes (Equities, Fixed Income and otherwise).
It also does not hurt that performance has been solid, with the fund challenging an all-time closing high since inception. If we look at the fund’s current holdings we actually see a portfolio of underlying closed-end funds, making YYY a “fund of funds” of some sort, as it owns CEFs issued by well-known managers including GAMCO, ING, PIMCO, Blackrock, and Allianz for example.
In the “Diversified Portfolio”, YYY comes in at number 10 in terms of its assets under management, as the largest fund in the category MDIV (First Trust Multi-Asset Diversified Income Index, Expense Ratio 0.60%) has picked up more than $600 million since its debut in the late summer of 2012.