If you're interested in broad exposure to the Utilities - Infrastructure segment of the equity market, look no further than the iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (IFRA), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on April 3, 2018.
While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.
Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Utilities - Infrastructure is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $3.46 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Utilities - Infrastructure segment of the equity market. IFRA seeks to match the performance of the NYSE FACTSET U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE INDEX before fees and expenses.
The NYSE FactSet U.S. Infrastructure Index comprises of equities of U.S. companies that have infrastructure exposure and that could benefit from a potential increase in domestic infrastructure activities.
Costs
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.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.3%, making it one of the least expensive products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.72%.
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 Utilities sector -- about 41.6% of the portfolio. Industrials and Materials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc (HE) accounts for about 0.9% of total assets, followed by Algonquin Power Utilities Corp (AQN) and Century Aluminum (CENX).
The top 10 holdings account for about 5.67% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 7.07% so far this year and is up about 20.85% in the last one year (as of 02/03/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $40.97 and $56.97.
The ETF has a beta of 1.01 and standard deviation of 16.29% for the trailing three-year period. With about 157 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, IFRA is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Utilities/Infrastructure ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
iShares Global Infrastructure ETF (IGF) tracks S&P Global Infrastructure Index and the Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF (PAVE) tracks INDXX U.S. Infrastructure Development Index. iShares Global Infrastructure ETF has $9.37 billion in assets, Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF has $11.79 billion. IGF has an expense ratio of 0.39%, and PAVE charges 0.47%.
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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iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (IFRA): ETF Research ReportsThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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