First Trust Institutional Preferred Securities & Income ETF
$18.77−0.09 (−0.45%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.85%
- Fund size
- $1.9B
- 1Y return
- +2.7%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 5.90%
- Holdings
- 174
- Volume · 30D
- 0.4M sh
- NAV per share
- $18.90
- 52W range
The ETF.net FPEI Grade
Score 49 of 100 sits in the C 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.FScore 10Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.BScore 67Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.AScore 73Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 51Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 71Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 76Category rank
Our read on FPEI
CPreferred income from the institutional side of the market: at least 80% of assets in institutional preferred securities and income-producing debt, roughly 170 positions, cash paid monthly.
The fund seeks total return and current income, investing at least 80% of assets in institutional preferred securities and income-producing debt securities under normal conditions.
Why people hold it
- A narrow, stated mandate: at least 80% of assets in institutional preferred securities and income-producing debt, chasing total return plus current income.ftportfolios.com
- Income arrives monthly, spread across roughly 170 positions rather than a handful of big bank issues.
- Billions in assets and steady day-to-day volume put it among the easier preferred funds to move in and out of, and it has held up in the upper half of its peer group.
Worth knowing
- Cost is the trade-off: 0.85% a year against a 0.49% median for preferred ETFs, with PFFV at 0.25% and EVPF at 0.20% anchoring the cheap end.
- Preferreds and income debt sit between stocks and bonds, so the ride reflects both credit conditions and interest rates, not just the coupon.ftportfolios.com
- No declared benchmark index to measure the portfolio against; what fills the 80% mandate is the manager's call.
FPEI Holdings
- Bonds
- 174
- 18%
- BANK OF AMERICA CORP Variable rate
Sectors
- Financials100.0%
Geography
- United States48.39%
- Canada15.22%
- France9.74%
- United Kingdom8.23%
- Spain5.77%
- Netherlands2.55%
- Germany2.50%
- Japan2.49%
- 5.11%
Developed 94% · Emerging 6%
FPEI 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 | FPEI |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +1.0% |
| 1 month | −1.0% |
| 3 months | −0.9% |
| 1 year | +2.7% |
| 3 years | +9.6% |
| 5 years | +3.6% |
| 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 | FPEI |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +1.0% | |
| 2025 | +9.8% | |
| 2024 | +10.9% | |
| 2023 | +6.3% | |
| 2022 | −8.2% | |
| 2021 | +4.6% | |
| 2020 | +6.7% |
FPEI in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on FPEI yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
FPEI Dividends
- 5.90%
- $1.11
- $0.10 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | Aug 31, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Jul 21, 2026 | Jul 31, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Jun 25, 2026 | Jun 30, 2026 | $0.09 |
| May 21, 2026 | May 29, 2026 | $0.10 |
| Apr 21, 2026 | Apr 30, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Mar 26, 2026 | Mar 31, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Feb 20, 2026 | Feb 27, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Jan 30, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Dec 12, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.11 |
| Nov 21, 2025 | Nov 28, 2025 | $0.09 |
| Oct 21, 2025 | Oct 31, 2025 | $0.09 |
| Sep 25, 2025 | Sep 30, 2025 | $0.09 |
FPEI Risk
- 4.8%
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.
- 1.03
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.
- −16.5%
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.
- 0.65
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
FPEI Cost
- The middle half of Preferred Securities funds
- Median 0.50%
27 of the 31 Preferred Securities funds charge less.