Making its debut on 12/13/2016, smart beta exchange traded fund Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF (NULV) provides investors broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Value category of the market.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has long been dominated by products based on market cap weighted indexes, a strategy created to reflect the market or a particular market segment.
Market cap weighted indexes offer a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way of replicating market returns, and are a good option for investors who believe in market efficiency.
If you're the kind of investor who would rather try and beat the market through good stock selection, then smart beta funds are your best choice; this fund class is known for tracking non-cap weighted strategies.
These indexes attempt to select stocks that have better chances of risk-return performance, based on certain fundamental characteristics or a combination of such characteristics.
While this space offers a number of choices to investors, including simplest equal-weighting, fundamental weighting and volatility/momentum based weighting methodologies, not all these strategies have been able to deliver superior results.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Managed by Nuveen, NULV has amassed assets over $1.54 billion, making it one of the average sized ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Value. NULV, before fees and expenses, seeks to match the performance of the TIAA ESG USA Large-Cap Value Index.
The Nuveen ESG USA Large-Cap Value Index composes of equity securities issued by large capitalization companies listed on U.S. exchanges.
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 on par with most peer products in the space, this ETF has annual operating expenses of 0.26%.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.23%.
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.
Representing 22.90% of the portfolio, the fund has heaviest allocation to the Financials sector; Healthcare and Industrials round out the top three.
Taking into account individual holdings, Coca Cola Co. (KO) accounts for about 2.47% of the fund's total assets, followed by Bank Of America Corp (BAC) and International Business Ma (IBM).
The top 10 holdings account for about 20.42% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has lost about -6.07% and is down about -0.41% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 04/07/2025), respectively. NULV has traded between $36.61 and $43.28 during this last 52-week period.
NULV has a beta of 0.87 and standard deviation of 14.91% for the trailing three-year period. With about 113 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF is an excellent option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Value segment of the market. There are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider as well.
IShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU) tracks MSCI USA ESG Focus Index and the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ) tracks ----------------------------------------. IShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF has $11.72 billion in assets, JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF has $20.85 billion. ESGU has an expense ratio of 0.15% and JEPQ charges 0.35%.
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 Value.
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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Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value ETF (NULV): ETF Research Reports Bank of America Corporation (BAC): Free Stock Analysis Report International Business Machines Corporation (IBM): Free Stock Analysis Report CocaCola Company (The) (KO): Free Stock Analysis Report iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF (ESGU): ETF Research Reports JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPQ): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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