Western Asset Bond ETF
$23.99−0.16 (−0.67%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.35%
- Fund size
- $16M
- 1Y return
- −0.3%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 5.31%
- Holdings
- 442
- Volume · 30D
- 0M sh
- NAV per share
- $24.17
- 52W range
The ETF.net WABF Grade
Score 54 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.CScore 46Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 95Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.DScore 36Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.DScore 28Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.CScore 52Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.CScore 42Category rank
Our read on WABF
CWestern Asset has run bond money since 1971, and WABF is that core-plus playbook in ETF form: an actively picked book of roughly 400 US bonds, paid out monthly, with room to reach into high yield.
The Fund seeks to maximize total return while maintaining prudent investment management and meeting liquidity needs.
Why people hold it
- Active, but with a leash: managers aim to keep average effective duration within 20% of the domestic bond market's, so security selection does the work rather than big rate bets.franklintempleton.com
- Up to 20% can sit in below-investment-grade bonds, and the fund intends to stay in US dollar securities, so the yield lever comes without currency exposure.businesswire.com
- A 0.35% expense ratio lands right at the aggregate-bond category median, unusual for a fund where a human team is making the calls.
- Income arrives monthly, and the portfolio hews closely to the broad US total-return mandate its prospectus describes.
Worth knowing
- Index rivals BND, SPAB and SCHZ charge 0.03%. Active management here costs about ten times the cheapest route to core US bonds, a gap the manager has to earn back.
- Small asset base and light trading volume. Spreads can be wider than on the giant index funds, and limit orders are the norm in this corner of the market.
- That high-yield sleeve cuts both ways: credit stress can bite harder here than in a pure investment-grade index tracker.businesswire.com
WABF Holdings
- Bonds
- 442
- 33%
- US TREASURY N/ 4.625 9/30
Sectors
- Financials49.0%
- Communication12.1%
- Health Care10.6%
- Energy10.0%
- Technology5.8%
- Industrials3.1%
- Consumer Discr.2.8%
- Cons. Staples2.8%
- Utilities2.1%
- Materials1.6%
WABF 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 | WABF |
|---|---|
| Year to date | −1.4% |
| 1 month | −1.0% |
| 3 months | −1.6% |
| 1 year | −0.3% |
| 3 years | +4.6% |
| 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 | WABF |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | −1.4% | |
| 2025 | +7.9% | |
| 2024 | +1.3% | |
| 2023 | +6.3% |
WABF in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on WABF yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
WABF Dividends
- 5.31%
- $1.28
- $0.09 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 4, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 6, 2026 | $0.12 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 7, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 4, 2026 | $0.18 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 6, 2026 | $0.13 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | $0.09 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 5, 2026 | $0.08 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 5, 2026 | $0.04 |
| Dec 19, 2025 | Dec 24, 2025 | $0.15 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 4, 2025 | $0.08 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 6, 2025 | $0.11 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 6, 2025 | $0.08 |
WABF Risk
- 6.4%
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.
- 0.19
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.
- −5.3%
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.
- 0.28
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
WABF Cost
- The middle half of US Aggregate Bond funds
- Median 0.34%
57 of the 112 US Aggregate Bond funds charge less.