Looking for broad exposure to the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market? You should consider the iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on July 24, 2000.
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $10.75 billion, making it one of the largest ETFs attempting to match the Mid Cap Growth segment of the US equity market.
Why Mid Cap Growth
Compared to large and small cap companies, mid cap businesses tend to have higher growth prospects and are less volatile, respectively, with market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion. Thus they have a nice balance of growth potential and stability.
Qualities of growth stocks include faster growth rates compared to the broader market, as well as higher valuations and higher than average sales and earnings growth rates. Something to keep in mind is the higher level of volatility that is affiliated with growth stocks. They are likely to outperform value stocks in strong bull markets but over the longer-term, value stocks have delivered better returns than growth stocks in almost all markets.
Costs
Cost is an important factor in selecting the right ETF, and cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts if all other fundamentals are the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.16%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.54%.
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 to the Industrials sector -- about 28.2% of the portfolio. Information Technology and Healthcare round out the top three.
Looking at individual holdings, Everpure Inc Class A (P) accounts for about 1.91% of total assets, followed by Twilio Class A (TWLO) and Technipfmc Plc (FTI).
The top 10 holdings account for about 14.87% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
IJK seeks to match the performance of the S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index before fees and expenses. The S&P MidCap 400 Growth Index measures the performance of the mid-capitalization growth sector of the U.S. equity market.
The ETF return is roughly 17.28% so far this year and was up about 20.39% in the last one year (as of 09/04/2026). In the past 52-week period, it has traded between $91.45 and $119.11.
The ETF has a beta of 1.05 and standard deviation of 18.77% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 251 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth 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, IJK is an excellent option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Mid Cap Growth segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.
The Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF (VOT) and the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP) track a similar index. While Vanguard Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $19.37 billion in assets, iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has $19.65 billion. VOT has an expense ratio of 0.05% and IWP charges 0.23%.
Bottom-Line
Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
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 S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF (IJK): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).