iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF Overview and Analysis

The iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF is a popular investment option for those looking to invest in municipal bonds. It's listed on the NYSE Arca exchange under the ticker symbol SUB.

This ETF provides investors with exposure to a diversified portfolio of short-term municipal bonds. It's designed to track the Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Year Municipal Bond Index.

The fund's investment objective is to provide a high level of current income, while also maintaining a relatively low risk profile. It does this by investing in a portfolio of short-term municipal bonds with maturities ranging from 1 to 3 years.

The iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF has a relatively low expense ratio of 0.15%, making it an attractive option for investors seeking to minimize costs.

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The fees associated with the iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF are relatively low.

The management fee is 0.07% of the fund's assets under management (AUM).

This fee is also the expense ratio, which is the total cost of owning the fund.

The 12b-1 fee is not applicable, as it's listed as N/A in the prospectus.

Administrative fees are also not directly stated, but are mentioned as a category return low of 0.01%.

Here's a breakdown of the fees:

Note that the amounts shown are as of the current prospectus and may not include extraordinary expenses incurred by the fund over the past fiscal year.

The iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF is a popular investment option for those looking to diversify their portfolios with municipal bonds. This ETF holds a diverse portfolio of short-term municipal bonds from various issuers across the United States.

Some of the top issuers in the ETF's holdings include the State of California, New York City, and the State of Connecticut, which collectively account for over 9% of the ETF's weight. The State of Minnesota and the State of Illinois are also notable issuers, making up around 4% of the portfolio.

Here are the top issuers in the ETF's holdings, sorted by weight:

These issuers provide a mix of credit quality and geographic diversification, which can help reduce risk and increase potential returns for investors.

Total Return Ranking is a crucial aspect of evaluating investment performance. It helps investors understand how their investment is doing compared to others in the same category.

The ranking is usually based on the total return of the investment, which includes both income and capital gains. Let's take a look at the ranking for the past few years.

In 2024, the SUB return was 2.2%, ranking 46.81% in the category. This means the investment performed better than 46.81% of other investments in the same category.

The Category Return Low for 2024 was -7.1%, while the Category Return High was 34.9%. This shows the range of performance within the category.

Here's a breakdown of the ranking for the past few years:

As you can see, the ranking can vary significantly from year to year. This highlights the importance of looking at the long-term performance of an investment rather than just its short-term results.

The holdings in this investment portfolio are made up of a diverse range of issuers, with the top issuers including the State of California, the City of New York, and the State of Connecticut.

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The State of California holds a significant portion of the portfolio, with a weight of 4.22%. This is a notable holding, as it indicates a substantial investment in the state's debt obligations.

The City of New York also holds a substantial position, with a weight of 2.60%. This is not surprising, given the city's large and diverse economy.

The State of Connecticut holds a weight of 2.56%, making it the third-largest issuer in the portfolio. This suggests that the investment portfolio has a significant exposure to the state's debt.

Here is a breakdown of the top issuers in the portfolio:

The Dividend Yield Analysis for the iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF is quite impressive. Its Dividend Yield is 2.16%, which is significantly higher than the Category Low of 0.00% and Category High of 14.51%.

This means that the ETF is offering a relatively high return on investment compared to other similar funds. In fact, its Dividend Yield ranks 88.79% within its category, indicating a strong performance.

Here's a breakdown of the Dividend Yield Analysis:

The iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF has a premium/discount history that's worth taking a closer look at. Total return for the past year is 5.24%.

The market price has also seen a significant increase, with a 1-year return of 5.32%. This is slightly higher than the total return, which suggests that the market price is slightly above the net asset value (NAV) of the fund.

Here's a breakdown of the premium/discount over different time periods:

The benchmark, which is a measure of the performance of a specific group of investments, has seen a total return of 5.45% over the past year. This is slightly higher than the iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF's total return, which suggests that the fund is performing slightly below the benchmark.

It's worth noting that the after-tax returns are lower than the total returns, due to the impact of taxes on the fund's performance. The after-tax pre-liquidation return is 5.24%, while the after-tax post-liquidation return is 3.94%.

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The iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF offers a range of calculators and tools to help investors make informed decisions.

To get started, you can use the Price Yield Calculator, which provides an indication of the ETF's yield and duration for a given market price.

The calculator estimates the Aggregate Cash Flow Yield, which is the discount rate that equates the ETF's aggregate cash flows to a given ETF price.

As of 01/03/25, the ACF Yield to Worst is 2.80%, and the Modified Duration is 1.80 years.

For context, the spread of the ACF Yield (2.80%) over the 2.00 yr Treasury Yield (3.80%) is 100 bps as of 01/03/25.

Note that the ACF Yield will differ from the ETF's Weighted Avg YTM.

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The iShares Short Term National Muni Bond ETF is a fund that tracks the Bloomberg Managed Money Municipal Short Term Index, a rules-based index that covers the U.S. dollar denominated short term tax exempt bond market.

This index includes publicly traded municipal bonds with ratings of Aa3/AA- or higher from at least two of the three major ratings agencies: Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch.

Each bond in the index must have an outstanding par value of at least $7 million and be issued as part of a transaction of at least $75 million.

The bonds must also be fixed rate and have a nominal maturity of one to five years.

No single issuer can make up more than 10% of the index, ensuring a diversified portfolio.

Bonds subject to AMT, hospital bonds, housing bonds, tobacco bonds, and airline bonds are all excluded from the index, as are taxable municipal bonds, floaters, and derivatives.

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