Designed to provide broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market, the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) is a smart beta exchange traded fund launched on 04/24/2012.
What Are Smart Beta ETFs?
The ETF industry has traditionally been dominated by products based on market capitalization weighted indexes that are designed to represent the market or a particular segment of the market.
Investors who believe in market efficiency should consider market cap indexes, as they replicate market returns in a low-cost, convenient, and transparent way.
There are some investors, though, who think it's possible to beat the market with great stock selection; this group likely invests in another class of funds known as smart beta, which track non-cap weighted strategies.
Based on specific fundamental characteristics, or a combination of such, these indexes attempt to pick stocks that have a better chance of risk-return performance.
Methodologies like equal-weighting, one of the simplest options out there, fundamental weighting, and volatility/momentum based weighting are all choices offered to investors in this space, but not all of them can deliver superior returns.
Fund Sponsor & Index
Because the fund has amassed over $12.56 billion, this makes it one of the largest ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. MOAT is managed by Van Eck. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index before fees and expenses.
The Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index tracks the overall performance of the 20 most attractively priced companies with sustainable competitive advantages.
Cost & Other Expenses
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.47%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 1.26%.
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.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Healthcare sector - about 25.8% of the portfolio. Industrials and Information Technology round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Applied Materials Inc (AMAT) accounts for about 3.37% of total assets, followed by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (TMO) and Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (HII).
Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 28.32% of MOAT's total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF has added roughly 8.71% so far, and it's up approximately 4.74% over the last 12 months (as of 11/25/2025). MOAT has traded between $76.53 $102.84 in this past 52-week period.
MOAT has a beta of 1.03 and standard deviation of 16.51% for the trailing three-year period, which makes the fund a medium risk choice in the space. With about 55 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .
Alternatives
VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF is a reasonable option for investors seeking to outperform the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. However, there are other ETFs in the space which investors could consider.
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) tracks S&P 500 Index and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $714.96 billion in assets, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has $785.62 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% 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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VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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