Designed to provide broad exposure to the Utilities - Infrastructure segment of the equity market, the iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (IFRA) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on April 3, 2018.
Passively managed ETFs are becoming increasingly popular with institutional as well as retail investors due to their low cost, transparency, flexibility and tax efficiency. They are excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways 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 4, placing it in top 25%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $3.73 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
When considering an ETF's total return, expense ratios are an important factor, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts in the long term if all other factors remain equal.
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 1.69%.
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 42.6% of the portfolio. Industrials and Materials round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Ryerson Holding Corp (RYZ) accounts for about 1.06% of total assets, followed by Century Aluminum (CENX) and Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc (HE).The top 10 holdings account for about 6.31% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has added about 10.25% so far this year and it's up approximately 41.62% in the last one year (as of 04/08/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $42.73 and $60.55.
The ETF has a beta of 0.98 and standard deviation of 16.06% for the trailing three-year period. With about 155 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 $10.28 billion in assets, Global X U.S. Infrastructure Development ETF has $11.75 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 Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).