Principal Active High Yield ETF
$18.68−0.14 (−0.77%)
- Expense ratio
- 0.39%
- Fund size
- $625M
- 1Y return
- +4.1%
- Yield · Last 12 months
- 7.41%
- Holdings
- 140
- Volume · 30D
- 0.2M sh
- NAV per share
- $18.73
- 52W range
The ETF.net YLD Grade
Score 59 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.BScore 58Category rankMission
How faithfully it does the job it claims — tracking its mandate or index with minimal slippage.AScore 79Category rankRisk
How violently it can move — volatility, drawdown depth, and downside capture versus its category.CScore 51Category rankTradability
How cheaply and easily you can get in and out — liquidity, spread, and premium/discount stability.CScore 48Category rankHoldings
What it actually owns — the quality, breadth, and concentration of the underlying portfolio.DScore 37Category rankDurability
Whether it will still be here — the fund’s assets, age, flows, and issuer staying power.BScore 68Category rank
Our read on YLD
BMost high yield ETFs just clone an index. YLD is the hand-built version: Principal's credit team blends junk bonds with senior floating-rate bank loans, at roughly what the average high yield ETF charges.
The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital through investments that include high-yield bonds and bank loans.
Why people hold it
- At 0.39% it costs about the category median (0.40%), unusual pricing for a fund where humans pick the credit instead of copying an index.
- Bank loans are in the toolkit. Managers can mix junk bonds with senior floating-rate loans, Treasuries and preferreds, levers a plain index tracker doesn't pull.principalam.com
- Live since 2015 and pays monthly, so it has traded through real credit cycles rather than arriving with a backtest.
- Moderately traded, and it lands in the upper half of its high yield peer group on our review.
Worth knowing
- Index rivals are far cheaper: SCYB at 0.03%, SPHY and HYLB at 0.05%, USHY at 0.08%. The active call is what you're paying up for.
- Junk credit is the whole point here. Below-investment-grade bonds and bank loans can move hard when credit spreads widen.principalam.com
- No index to check the manager against, and a book of roughly 150 positions, so results ride on the credit team's calls.principalam.com
YLD Holdings
- Bonds
- 140
- 20%
- GVMXX
Sectors
- Real Estate100.0%
Geography
- United States99.54%
- Norway0.46%
YLD 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 | YLD |
|---|---|
| Year to date | +3.9% |
| 1 month | −0.0% |
| 3 months | +0.6% |
| 1 year | +4.1% |
| 3 years | +8.7% |
| 5 years | +4.6% |
| 10 years | +5.2% |
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 | YLD |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 YTD | +3.9% | |
| 2025 | +6.6% | |
| 2024 | +9.2% | |
| 2023 | +12.9% | |
| 2022 | −8.8% | |
| 2021 | +9.5% | |
| 2020 | +1.5% |
YLD in the news
ETF.net Research hasn’t filed on YLD yet — coverage lands here as it’s written.
YLD Dividends
- 7.41%
- $1.40
- $0.11 per share
- Monthly
Distribution history
| Ex-date | Pay date | Amount per share |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | Sep 3, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Aug 3, 2026 | Aug 5, 2026 | $0.12 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | Jul 6, 2026 | $0.12 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Jun 3, 2026 | $0.11 |
| May 1, 2026 | May 5, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | Apr 6, 2026 | $0.12 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | Mar 4, 2026 | $0.11 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | Feb 4, 2026 | $0.12 |
| Dec 29, 2025 | Dec 31, 2025 | $0.14 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | Dec 3, 2025 | $0.12 |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Nov 5, 2025 | $0.12 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | Oct 3, 2025 | $0.11 |
YLD Risk
- 4.0%
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.
- 0.96
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.
- −13.8%
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.
- 0.55
How it’s calculated: beta
The beta figure is supplied by FMP. The comparison index depends on the fund’s broad asset class.
YLD Cost
- The middle half of US High Yield funds
- Median 0.43%
29 of the 84 US High Yield funds charge less.