Fund Evaluator:

Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional Overview

Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional (HJSIX) is an actively managed International Equity Japan Stock fund. Hennessy launched the fund in 2015.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of smaller Japanese companies, typically considered to be companies with market capitalizations in the bottom 20% of all publicly traded Japanese companies. The fund's manager considers a Japanese company to be a company organized under the laws of Japan, for which the principal securities trading market is Japan, or that has a majority of its assets or business in Japan.

About Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional (HJSIX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 12.76 years: Tadahiro Fujimura (2007), Takenari Okumura (2020). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Topix TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell/Nomura Small Cap TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional has 65 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 32.1% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional has 94.7% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 94.7% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional has 5.4% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $100 million in total assets, which is below the $227 million average for the Japan Stock 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.

HJSIX 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 Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Japan Stock category. Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional has an expense ratio of 1.11%, which is 16% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. 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. Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional has a portfolio turnover rate of 45%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 40% for the Japan Stock category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional returned 4.0%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Japan Stock category had an average return of 3.6%. 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 funds in that category.

Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional has a trailing yield of 1.40%, which is below the 3.12% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually and its capital gains annually.

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.

Hennessy Japan Small Cap Institutional Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 19.2%, 3.9 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 23.8% over the past year (grade of F), 21.8% over the past three years (grade of C) and 9.5% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 11.4% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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