What Is IJJ? iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF

Look at the first four holdings: US Foods at 1.3%, TD Synnex at 1.1%, Reliance at 1.1% and Performance Food Group at 1.0%. Two distribute food to restaurants and institutions, one distributes technology products, and one processes and distributes metals. WESCO at 1.0% distributes electrical and industrial supplies. Five of the ten largest positions are, in effect, the same business model applied to different products.

This is a direct consequence of value screening. Distributors carry large revenue against small margins, so they look cheap on sales-based measures and often on book value too, since they hold substantial inventory and receivables. A screen that ranks companies on those metrics gravitates toward them whether or not that is what an investor had in mind by value.

The behaviour that follows is cyclical and economically sensitive. Distribution volumes track industrial activity, restaurant traffic and construction. It is not defensive exposure. Anyone treating mid-cap value as the conservative corner of the equity market is likely to be surprised by how the fund moves when the economy slows.

Sector weights read financials 22%, industrials 19%, consumer discretionary 14%, real estate 10% and technology 10%. Financials leading is standard for a value index, since banks and insurers routinely trade near or below book value and therefore score well on the screen. Pinnacle Financial Partners at 0.9% is a representative regional bank holding.

Real estate at 10% deserves attention because of what sits inside it. Annaly Capital Management, at 0.9%, is a mortgage real estate trust, which is a leveraged bond portfolio rather than a property owner. It borrows short, buys mortgage securities and earns the spread, which makes it acutely sensitive to interest rates and to the shape of the yield curve. Its presence gives a small part of the fund a bond-like risk profile that equity investors do not usually expect.

Consumer discretionary at 14% includes Toll Brothers at 0.9%, a homebuilder, so housing exposure appears in two forms: the builder and the mortgage trust. Combined with the distributors, the fund ends up quite geared to the domestic economic cycle. That is a coherent portfolio, but it is a specific one.

At 0.18% the fee is reasonable for style-specific exposure and higher than a plain mid-cap blend fund would charge. The additional cost pays for the value screen and the turnover that comes with periodic rebalancing between the value and growth halves of the index.

The 1.59% yield is modest for something labelled value. That contradicts a common assumption, since value and income are often conflated. A value screen ranks on price relative to fundamentals, not on dividends, so it can select companies that pay little. Investors who want income from mid-caps need a dividend screen, not a value one.

IJJ works as a deliberate tilt for someone who wants mid-sized US companies at lower valuations and accepts the cyclicality that comes with them. It is a poor fit for someone seeking defensive equity exposure, or for anyone who wants their mid-cap allocation to look like the segment as a whole, since taking only the value half leaves out everything on the growth side.

Approximate weights as of August 2026. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.

There are three common ways to get IJJ exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) of IJJ directly at any major broker that lists it. Hold it as a core position and layer more concentrated ideas on top. Or build it into a thematic portfolio in Walnut, so IJJ sits alongside other holdings that express the same thesis, with target weights you can rebalance toward. IJJ trades like a stock during market hours, so you buy it the same way you would any listed share.

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Whether IJJ is a good buy depends less on any single call and more on your time horizon and what you already hold: it tracks the S&P MidCap 400 Value Index, so the real question is whether you want that exposure in your mix and at what weight. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is IJJ a buy?

IJJ gives you the S&P MidCap 400 Value Index exposure in one ticker at a 0.18% expense ratio. Most investors use it as a core holding and layer more concentrated thematic portfolios on top.

Whether IJJ is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, concentration, and what would have to be true for it to outperform from here in is IJJ a buy?

IJJ yields 1.59% as of August 2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see IJJ dividend: yield and schedule.

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