iShares Total Return Active ETF
$48.37−0.34 (−0.70%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.41%
- Fund size
- $778M
- 1Y return
- +0.2%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.83%
- Holdings
- 2655
- Volume · 30D
- 0.1M sh
- NAV per share
- $48.65
- 52W range
The ETF.net BRTR Grade
Score 57 of 100 sits in the B band. Bands: A ≥ 70, B ≥ 55, C ≥ 40, D ≥ 25, F < 25; the scale skips E.
Cost
What you pay to own it — the expense ratio plus trading frictions, ranked within its category.CScore 54Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 100Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.FScore 24Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 40Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.DScore 36Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 62Category rank
Our read on BRTR
BBlackRock's core-plus bond playbook in an ETF: an active fund that treats the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate as a target to beat, not a map to copy, with room to roam into foreign, emerging-market and commodity-linked positions.
The Fund seeks total returns above the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index through an actively managed, diversified fixed-income portfolio.
Why people hold it
- Active by design: it aims to beat the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index rather than copy it, spreading roughly 2,500 positions across corporates, mortgage- and asset-backed bonds, and government debt.sec.gov
- Wide passport. Filings allow up to 30% of net assets in foreign issuers, up to 20% in emerging markets, and commodity-linked exposure via a Cayman subsidiary capped at 25% of total assets.sec.gov
- What it holds lines up with what the prospectus promises, one of the cleaner mandate fits in the aggregate-bond group.
- Pays monthly, in a plain 1940 Act ETF wrapper, trading since December 2023.
Worth knowing
- You pay for the human touch: 0.41% a year, above the 0.36% cohort median and many times the 0.03% charged by index Aggs like AGG and BND.
- Flexibility cuts both ways. Emerging-market, commodity-linked and derivative positions, plus frequent trading, can push returns away from a plain Agg tracker in either direction.sec.govblackrock.com
- Volume is moderate rather than heavy, so spreads can run wider than the giant index Aggs, which matters most on large or fast-market orders.
BRTR Holdings
- Bonds
- 2,655
- 37%
- UMBS 30YR TBA(REG A) 5.50% 11/12/2026 (UM30)
Sectors
- Financials22.4%
- Energy22.0%
- Technology19.4%
- Communication15.6%
- Consumer Discr.6.5%
- Materials4.7%
- Industrials3.7%
- Utilities2.7%
- Real Estate2.3%
- Health Care0.6%
Geography
- United States87.15%
- United Kingdom1.67%
- Mexico1.15%
- Canada0.98%
- Italy0.98%
- Panama0.83%
- Spain0.71%
- Netherlands0.69%
- 5.83%
BRTR Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
Returns run to the Sep 22, 2026 close, with cash distributions reinvested. Each period starts on the same date that many months or years earlier. Periods over one year show the average yearly return.
| Period | BRTR |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −1.2% |
| 1 month | −1.1% |
| 3 months | −1.7% |
| 1 year | +0.2% |
| 3 years | — |
| 5 years | — |
| 10 years | — |
Calendar-year total return with cash distributions hypothetically reinvested at the ex-dividend date’s closing price. The current year shows year to date.
| Year | Return bar | BRTR |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −1.2% | |
| 2025 | +8.1% | |
| 2024 | +1.3% | |
| 2023 | +0.4% |
BRTR in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on BRTR yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
BRTR Dividends
- 4.83%
- $2.35
- $0.19 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 4, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 6, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 7, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 4, 2026 | $0.17 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 6, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 7, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 5, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 5, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Dec 24, 2025 | $0.19 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 4, 2025 | $0.25 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 6, 2025 | $0.21 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 6, 2025 | $0.21 |
BRTR Risk
- 4.7%
How it’s calculated: standard deviation
The sample standard deviation of monthly total returns, multiplied by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Total returns include reinvested distributions.
- −0.20
How it’s calculated: Sharpe ratio
Subtract each month’s Treasury-bill return from the fund’s monthly total return.
Divide the average of those excess returns by their sample standard deviation, then multiply by the square root of 12.
Uses up to 36 complete months, with at least 12 required. Each month uses the Treasury yield quoted at the end of the previous month.
- −5.1%
How it’s calculated: maximum drawdown
The largest percentage decline from an earlier peak, using total returns with reinvested distributions.
Uses up to five years through the last close, with at least 12 months required.
- 0.18
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
BRTR Cost
- The middle half of Global Aggregate Bond (Unhedged) funds
- Median 0.41%
13 of the 27 Global Aggregate Bond (Unhedged) funds charge less.