ETF Evaluator: iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF (NEAR) Follow This ETF

iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF Overview

iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF (NEAR) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Short-Term Bond exchange-traded fund (ETF). iShares launched the ETF in 2013.

The investment seeks total return in excess of the reference benchmark. The fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade fixed-income securities. Under normal circumstances, the effective duration of its portfolio is expected to be three year or less, as calculated by the management team. It is an actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF") that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index.

About iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF (NEAR)

There are 6 members of the management team with an average tenure of 3.88 years: James Mauro (2021), Akiva Dickstein (2020), Scott MacLellan (2020), Siddharth Mehta (2025), Sam Summers (2023) and Amanda Liu (2023). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Universal TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Govt/Credit 1-3 Yr TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF has 1842 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 29.4% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond ETF group. iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF has 13.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0% There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 103.9% (90.9% domestic bond, 13.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF has -3.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $4 billion in total assets, which is above the $3 billion average for the Short-Term Bond category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

NEAR Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF expense ratio is below average compared to funds in the Short-Term Bond category. iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF has an expense ratio of 0.25%, which is 10% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 163%, which indicates that it holds its assets around / 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 77% for the Short-Term Bond category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF returned 0.1%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Short-Term Bond category had an average return of 0.1%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all ETFs in that category.

iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF has a trailing yield of 4.43%, which is below the 4.55% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

iShares Short Duration Bond Active ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 0.9%, 0.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 3.6% over the past year (grade of D), 5.5% over the past three years (grade of C) and 3.9% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 2.8% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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