The John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF (JHML) made its debut on 09/28/2015, and is a smart beta exchange traded fund that provides broad exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend category of the market.

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.

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.

On the other hand, some investors who believe that it is possible to beat the market by superior stock selection opt to invest in another class of funds that track non-cap weighted strategies--popularly known as smart beta.

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.

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

The fund is sponsored by John Hancock. It has amassed assets over $1.18 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs in the Style Box - Large Cap Blend. This particular fund seeks to match the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Large Cap Index before fees and expenses.

The John Hancock Dimensional Large Cap Index comprises of a subset of securities in the U.S. Universe issued by companies whose market capitalizations are larger than that of the 801st largest U.S. company.

Cost & Other Expenses

Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long-term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive cousins, other things remaining the same.

Operating expenses on an annual basis are 0.29% for JHML, making it on par with most peer products in the space.

It's 12-month trailing dividend yield comes in at 0.94%.

Sector Exposure and Top Holdings

It is important to delve into an ETF's holdings before investing despite the many upsides to these kinds of funds like diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.

This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Information Technology sector - about 29.9% of the portfolio. Financials and Industrials round out the top three.

When you look at individual holdings, Nvidia Corp (NVDA) accounts for about 4.47% of the fund's total assets, followed by Apple Inc (AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT).

Its top 10 holdings account for approximately 24.55% of JHML's total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 13.93% and is up about 17.12% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 09/22/2026), respectively. JHML has traded between $76.16 and $92.40 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.97 and standard deviation of 14.01% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 780 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk .

Alternatives

John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap 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 500 Index Fund ETF Shares (VOO) tracks S&P 500 Index. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has $851.67 billion in assets, Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares has $1061.73 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

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John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF (JHML): ETF Research Reports

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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