iShares Aaa - A Rated Corporate Bond ETF
$45.57−0.45 (−0.98%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.15%
- Fund size
- $1.2B
- 1Y return
- −0.7%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 4.65%
- Holdings
- 3545
- Volume · 30D
- 0.3M sh
- NAV per share
- $46.00
- 52W range
The ETF.net QLTA Grade
Score 79 of 100 sits in the A 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.AScore 80Category 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.DScore 29Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.AScore 88Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.AScore 87Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.AScore 85Category rank
Our read on QLTA
A"Investment grade" spans a lot of ground, and its bottom rung sits one downgrade from junk. QLTA cuts that rung out and holds only Aaa through A corporate bonds: the credit-quality purist of the corporate bond aisle, running since 2012.
The fund seeks to track an index of U.S.-dollar investment-grade corporate bonds rated Aaa through A.
Why people hold it
- The whole design in one line: only Aaa through A rated corporate bonds, so the BBB tier that sits a single notch above junk never enters the portfolio.ishares.com
- Charges 0.15% a year, below the typical fee among investment-grade corporate bond ETFs.
- Spreads across thousands of bonds from US and non-US corporations, and pays income monthly.ishares.com
- Has hugged its benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Aaa - A Capped Index, closely since launching in 2012, one of the tighter implementations in its peer group.
Worth knowing
- The quality filter has a price. Broad investment-grade rivals such as USIG and VCIT own the full ladder, BBB included, for a fraction of this fee.
- High ratings are credit protection, not rate protection. This is still a corporate bond fund, and its share price moves when interest rates move.ishares.com
- A multi-billion-dollar fund, but a moderately traded one rather than a household-name corporate bond ETF, so spreads can widen when markets get busy.
QLTA Holdings
- Bonds
- 3,545
- 2%
- BLK CSH FND TREASURY SL AGENCY
Geography
- United States85.34%
- United Kingdom3.78%
- Japan3.22%
- Canada3.15%
- Australia1.02%
- Spain0.81%
- Singapore0.72%
- Netherlands0.47%
- 1.49%
QLTA 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 | QLTA |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −1.3% |
| 1 month | −0.5% |
| 3 months | −1.7% |
| 1 year | −0.7% |
| 3 years | +4.6% |
| 5 years | −0.8% |
| 10 years | +1.6% |
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 | QLTA |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −1.3% | |
| 2025 | +7.4% | |
| 2024 | +1.2% | |
| 2023 | +7.6% | |
| 2022 | −15.1% | |
| 2021 | −2.3% | |
| 2020 | +9.6% |
QLTA in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on QLTA yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
QLTA Dividends
- 4.65%
- $2.14
- $0.18 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 4, 2026 | $0.18 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 6, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 7, 2026 | $0.18 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 4, 2026 | $0.18 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 6, 2026 | $0.19 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 7, 2026 | $0.18 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 5, 2026 | $0.18 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 5, 2026 | $0.18 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Dec 24, 2025 | $0.18 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 4, 2025 | $0.18 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 6, 2025 | $0.17 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 6, 2025 | $0.17 |
QLTA Risk
- 6.3%
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.
- −0.02
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.
- −21.3%
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.
- 1.10
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
QLTA Cost
- The middle half of Investment Grade Corporate funds
- Median 0.30%
8 of the 49 Investment Grade Corporate funds charge less.