Should Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF (FLQL) Be on Your Investing Radar?

Launched on 04/26/2017, the Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF (FLQL) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

The fund is sponsored by Franklin Templeton Investments. It has amassed assets over $955.29 million, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the Large Cap Blend segment of the US equity market.

Why Large Cap Blend

Large cap companies usually have a market capitalization above $10 billion. They tend to be stable companies with predictable cash flows and are usually less volatile than mid and small cap companies.

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 0.15%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 1.87%.

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 to the Information Technology sector--about 25.90% of the portfolio. Healthcare and Industrials round out the top three.

Looking at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 1.29% of total assets, followed by Adobe Inc (ADBE) and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (TMO).

The top 10 holdings account for about 11.94% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

FLQL seeks to match the performance of the LibertyQ US Large Cap Equity Index before fees and expenses. The U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell 1000 Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell 1000 Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors quality, value, momentum and low volatility.

The ETF return is roughly 24.11% so far this year and is up about 25.61% in the last one year (as of 12/15/2021). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $37.22 and $46.13.

The ETF has a beta of 0.91 and standard deviation of 21.27% for the trailing three-year period. With about 257 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.

Alternatives

Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity 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, FLQL is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.

The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) track a similar index. While iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $327.60 billion in assets, SPDR S&P 500 ETF has $428.74 billion. IVV has an expense ratio of 0.03% and SPY charges 0.09%.

Bottom-Line

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.

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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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF (FLQL): ETF Research Reports
 
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Adobe Inc. (ADBE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports
 
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV): ETF Research Reports
 
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