ETF Evaluator: Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF (NUSA) Follow This ETF

Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF Overview

Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF (NUSA) is a passively managed Taxable Bond Short-Term Bond exchange-traded fund (ETF). Nuveen launched the ETF in 2017.

The investment seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the Bloomberg MSCI 1-5 Year Aggregate ESG Select Index (the "index"). The index utilizes certain environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) criteria to select from the securities included in a modified version of the Bloomberg 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Index, which is designed to broadly capture the 1-5 year U.S. investment grade, taxable fixed income market. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in component securities of the index.

About Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF (NUSA)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 2.51 years: James Tsang (2021) and Joseph Spinelli (2026). Management tenure is more important for actively managed ETFs than passive index ETFs.

The ETF has 2 primary benchmarks: ICE BofA 1-5Y US Brd Mkt TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg MSCI 1-5 Y Agg ESG Sel TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF has 334 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 26.9% of the ETF’s assets. The ETF meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The ETF is considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond ETF group. Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF has 9.8% 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 100.0% (90.2% domestic bond, 9.8% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF has 0.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $34 million in total assets, which is below 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.

NUSA 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 Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF expense ratio is low compared to funds in the Short-Term Bond category. Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF has an expense ratio of 0.14%, which is 50% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. 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. Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF has a portfolio turnover rate of 38%, 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, Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF returned 0.1%, which earned it a grade of F, 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.

Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF has a trailing yield of 3.86%, 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.

Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year US Aggt Bd ETF Grades

Year to date, the ETF has returned 0.5%, 0.6 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 2.9% over the past year (grade of F), 4.5% over the past three years (grade of F) and 1.6% per year over the past five years (grade of F).

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