iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF
$65.38−0.64 (−0.97%)
- Expense ratio
- 1.02%
- Fund size
- $659M
- 1Y return
- +39.0%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 3.95%
- Volume · 30D
- 0.1M sh
- NAV per share
- $65.61
- 52W range
The ETF.net HEWJ Grade
Score 42 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 6Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.Not scoredRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.BScore 55Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 84Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 51Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 78Category rank
Our read on HEWJ
CJapanese stocks with the yen taken out of the equation. Since 2014, HEWJ has tracked MSCI's 100% USD-hedged Japan index, so what drives the fund is the Japanese market, not the currency.
The fund seeks to track an index of Japanese equities while reducing the effect of yen currency fluctuations.
Why people hold it
- The hedge is built into the mandate: it follows the MSCI Japan 100% Hedged to USD Index, which aims to strip yen-versus-dollar moves out of the result.
- Launched in January 2014 under the iShares banner, so this is a long-running hedged-Japan wrapper rather than a recent launch chasing a theme.
- A clean single-country mandate: Japanese equities, nothing else blended in, with distributions paid quarterly.
Worth knowing
- Cost is the sticking point: a 1.02% expense ratio sits well above the typical Japan fund, and Franklin's hedged rival FLJH lists 0.09%.
- A hedge cuts both ways. Removing yen weakness also removes the lift a strengthening yen would otherwise give a dollar-based holder.
- Everything rides on one market. Japan-only exposure means no cushion from other regions when Japanese equities wobble.
HEWJ Holdings
- Stocks
- —
- 31%
- 8306.T
Sectors
- Industrials23.2%
- Technology22.7%
- Financials19.5%
- Consumer Discr.11.1%
- Communication8.2%
- Health Care5.3%
- Cons. Staples3.3%
- Materials3.0%
- Real Estate1.8%
- Utilities1.0%
- Energy1.0%
Geography
- United States100.00%
HEWJ Performance
Shows how $10,000 changes over the selected period, with cash distributions reinvested at the closing price on each ex-dividend date.
HEWJ$13,900
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 | HEWJ |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +26.0% |
| 1 month | +2.8% |
| 3 months | −0.4% |
| 1 year | +39.0% |
| 3 years | +27.7% |
| 5 years | +21.3% |
| 10 years | +16.6% |
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 | HEWJ |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +26.0% | |
| 2025 | +30.2% | |
| 2024 | +24.8% | |
| 2023 | +36.2% | |
| 2022 | −4.0% | |
| 2021 | +12.8% | |
| 2020 | +10.3% |
HEWJ in the news
HEWJ Dividends
- 3.95%
- $2.61
- $0.35 per share
- Twice a year
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 2, 2026 | Jul 8, 2026 | $0.35 |
| Dec 23, 2025 | Dec 29, 2025 | $1.98 |
| Dec 2, 2025 | Dec 5, 2025 | $0.28 |
| Jul 2, 2025 | Jul 8, 2025 | $0.43 |
| Dec 20, 2024 | Dec 26, 2024 | $0.65 |
| Jul 2, 2024 | Jul 8, 2024 | $0.29 |
| Dec 22, 2023 | Dec 29, 2023 | $0.52 |
| Jul 3, 2023 | Jul 10, 2023 | $0.19 |
| Dec 23, 2022 | Dec 30, 2022 | $0.08 |
| Dec 2, 2022 | Dec 8, 2022 | $12.04 |
| Jul 5, 2022 | Jul 11, 2022 | $0.35 |
| Dec 23, 2021 | Dec 30, 2021 | $0.52 |
HEWJ Risk
- 12.0%
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.
- 1.77
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.
- −20.9%
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.
- 0.41
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
HEWJ Cost
1.02%
HEWJ1.02%
- The middle half of Japan funds
- Median 0.54%
16 of the 18 Japan funds charge less.