Launched on May 1, 2006, the iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF) is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to provide a broad exposure to the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market.
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 also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 9, placing it in bottom 44%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by Blackrock. It has amassed assets over $1.23 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Healthcare - Healthcare - Providers segment of the equity market. IHF seeks to match the performance of the Dow Jones U.S. Select HealthCare Providers Index before fees and expenses.
The Dow Jones U.S. Select HealthCare Providers Index is free-float adjusted market capitalization-weighted index. It measures the performance of the health care providers sub-sector of the U.S. equity market. It includes health maintenance organizations, hospitals, clinics, dentists, opticians, nursing homes rehabilitation & retirement centres.
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 0.38%, making it on par with most peer products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.91%.
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 Healthcare sector -- about 100% of the portfolio.
Looking at individual holdings, Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH) accounts for about 24.04% of total assets, followed by Cvs Health Corp (CVS) and Hca Healthcare Inc (HCA).The top 10 holdings account for about 73.93% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
The ETF has gained about 20.33% so far this year and is up about 25.24% in the last one year (as of 07/03/2026). In that past 52-week period, it has traded between $40.81 and $57.5.
The ETF has a beta of 0.72 and standard deviation of 18.92% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 64 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, IHF is a good option for those seeking exposure to the Health Care ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.
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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. Healthcare Providers ETF (IHF): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).