What Is JAVA? JPMorgan Active Value ETF
Last updated October 2026
Short answer
JAVA is JPMorgan Active Value ETF, an ETF that tracks Actively managed, no tracked index at a 0.44% expense ratio. JAVA is JPMorgan's actively managed large-cap value ETF, and its top holdings tell you it is a manager's fund rather than a screen. As of October 2026 Amazon sits at 7.5 percent and Microsoft at 6.2 percent, nearly double what they held in August in Microsoft's case, with Apple at 3.5 percent and Bank of America and Wells Fargo following at about 2.2 percent each. Technology is 21 percent against 17 percent in financials. The distribution yield is 1.19 percent, low for a value strategy, which is what happens when a value mandate is interpreted through business quality rather than dividend screens. The fee is 0.44 percent and assets are $7.0 billion. As of October 16, 2026 the share price was up 13.5 percent year to date and 20.8 percent over one year.
JAVA is issued by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and tracks Actively managed, no tracked index. It charges a 0.44% expense ratio, holds approximately $7.0B in assets under management, yields about 1.19%, and launched in 2021.
Value defined by judgement, not by a screen
An index value fund applies a rule: rank companies on price relative to book value or earnings and take the cheaper half. That rule cannot accommodate a manager who thinks a company trades below what its business is worth despite looking expensive on those measures. An active value fund can, and JAVA's holdings show a manager doing exactly that.
Amazon at 7.5 percent is the clearest example. It would not appear near the top of a mechanical value screen. Its presence as the largest position, now joined by Microsoft at 6.2 percent, means the manager has taken a considered view that the market price understates these businesses. Whether that judgement proves right is a separate question from whether it belongs in a value fund. What matters for a buyer is understanding that this is a discretionary portfolio wearing a value label, not a rules-based one.
The portfolio keeps moving. Between August and October 2026, UnitedHealth, Walt Disney and Charles Schwab left the top ten and ConocoPhillips, Berkshire Hathaway and Citigroup entered it, and a GuruFocus report on October 16, 2026 described the fund adding to Berkshire and HCA Healthcare that week. As of October 16, 2026 the share price was up 13.5 percent year to date and 20.8 percent over one year, and Yahoo Finance puts the 3-year average total return at 18.7 percent.
Technology now edges ahead of financials
Technology sits at 21 percent and financials at 17 percent as of October 2026, after being tied at 19 percent in August, which is unusual for a large-cap value fund where financials would normally dominate technology by a wide margin. The financial exposure is conventional: Bank of America at 2.3 percent, Wells Fargo at 2.2 percent, Berkshire Hathaway at 1.6 percent and Citigroup at 1.5 percent give roughly 7.6 percent across four US financial businesses, which makes the fund sensitive to interest rate spreads, credit conditions and loan demand.
The technology side is where a value label is doing work it does not usually do. Microsoft at 6.2 percent and Apple at 3.5 percent sit alongside Meta Platforms at 2.1 percent, all companies that appear at the top of growth indices as well. The overlap has a practical consequence: pairing JAVA with an S&P 500 fund duplicates more mega-cap exposure than the value classification would lead you to expect. Healthcare, consumer discretionary and industrials round out the fund at 13, 12 and 10 percent, and ConocoPhillips at 1.8 percent brings energy into the top ten.
What a 1.19 percent yield indicates
Large-cap value funds usually pay more than the broad market, because cheap stocks tend to be mature businesses returning cash to shareholders. JAVA distributes 1.19 percent, which is modest. The composition explains it: technology mega-caps that pay little or nothing, and a manager who is evidently not selecting for dividends.
This is worth being explicit about because the value label draws income-focused buyers. If the goal is portfolio income, a dividend-focused fund is the matching product and this is not it. JAVA is a fund for someone who wants active large-cap management with a valuation discipline, and who is content for the return to come mostly through price. The 0.44 percent fee is the standing cost of that management, well above an index value fund and in line with active large-cap ETFs. The fund launched in October 2021, so its live record is about five years.
JAVA holdings: top 10
Approximate weights as of October 2026. Each ticker links to its individual stock guide in Walnut.
How do I invest in JAVA?
There are three common ways to get JAVA exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) of JAVA 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 JAVA sits alongside other holdings that express the same thesis, with target weights you can rebalance toward. JAVA trades like a stock during market hours, so you buy it the same way you would any listed share.
New to buying funds? See how to buy an ETF, step by step.
Is JAVA a good buy?
Whether JAVA is a good buy depends less on any single call and more on your time horizon and what you already hold: it tracks Actively managed, no tracked 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 JAVA a buy?
The bottom line on JAVA
JAVA gives you Actively managed, no tracked index exposure in one ticker at a 0.44% expense ratio. Most investors use it as a core holding and layer more concentrated thematic portfolios on top.
More on JAVA
Whether JAVA 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 JAVA a buy?
JAVA yields 1.19% as of October 2026, paid by passing through the dividends of its underlying holdings. For the payout schedule, history, and how the distributions are taxed, see JAVA dividend: yield and schedule.
For what analysts expect from the companies JAVA holds, its yield as a guide to income, and why no one publishes a price target for the fund itself, see the JAVA forecast.
New to funds like JAVA? Start with what an ETF is, then how to buy an ETF, or browse the full guide to ETF investing.
Wondering how JAVA fits the portfolio you already own? Walnut is an AI investing app that connects your brokerage read-only and answers questions like that about your actual holdings: overlap, concentration, and how each position tracks the S&P 500. Compare the best AI portfolio analyzers or see the best AI investing apps in 2026.
Investing in JAVA with AI
Connect the broker you already use and ask Walnut's AI how JAVA fits what you actually hold: what it overlaps with, what it leaves you exposed to, and how it has tracked the S&P 500. Read-only by default, and you approve anything before it reaches your broker.
FAQ
How can a value fund hold Amazon, Microsoft and Apple?
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Because it is actively managed and not bound to a value index. A manager can judge a company undervalued relative to what its business will earn even when conventional metrics such as price to book do not classify it as cheap. Amazon at 7.5 percent, Microsoft at 6.2 percent and Apple at 3.5 percent as of October 2026 reflect that discretion rather than a screening rule.
Is JAVA an index fund?
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No. It is actively managed with no benchmark it must replicate, so its holdings and weights are decided by the management team. That means it can diverge from a large-cap value index substantially, in either direction, and the divergence is the whole point of the product. It also means the 0.44 percent fee reflects the cost of running a research process.
Why is Amazon 7.5 percent of the fund?
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It is the largest position by a clear margin, ahead of Microsoft at 6.2 percent, and it has grown from 6.0 percent in August. A weight like that in a value fund represents a deliberate high-conviction position rather than an artefact of market-cap weighting. Active managers concentrate where they see the widest gap between price and their estimate of value. It also concentrates the fund's outcome: at 7.5 percent, one company's performance has a visible effect on the whole portfolio.
Why is the yield only 1.19 percent for a value fund?
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Because the manager selects on valuation rather than on dividends, and the portfolio includes large technology companies that distribute little. Value and high dividend yield are often assumed to be the same thing and they are not: a screen for cheap valuation and a screen for high payout select overlapping but different companies. Income-focused buyers would look at dividend strategies instead.
Which sectors dominate the portfolio?
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As of October 2026 technology leads at 21 percent, followed by financials at 17 percent, healthcare at 13 percent, consumer discretionary at 12 percent and industrials at 10 percent. In August technology and financials were tied at 19 percent each. A technology weight ahead of financials is unusual for large-cap value, where financials would typically be well ahead. It is another sign the mandate is not following a conventional value template.
Is 0.44 percent reasonable for this fund?
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It is in the normal range for actively managed large-cap ETFs and many times what a passive large-cap value index fund charges. The fee has to be recovered through better selection every year. Given the fund's holdings overlap substantially with broad market indices, the practical question is how much of the portfolio is genuinely differentiated from a cheaper alternative.
Does JAVA overlap with an S&P 500 fund?
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Considerably. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta Platforms, Berkshire Hathaway and Bank of America are all large S&P 500 constituents, and several are among that index's biggest weights. An investor pairing the two funds expecting complementary exposure is adding to positions they already own, though at different proportions than the index assigns.
When is JAVA the wrong tool?
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When systematic value exposure is what is wanted, since the manager's discretion produces something different from a value index. When income is the objective, given the modest 1.19 percent yield. And when minimising cost matters, because index value funds deliver a rules-based version of the style for a fraction of 0.44 percent.
What is JAVA's expense ratio?
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JAVA has an expense ratio of 0.44% per year as of October 2026, charged by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and deducted from the fund's value rather than billed to you separately. On a $10,000 position that is roughly $44 a year. Fees compound over time, so on a long-term holding the expense ratio is one of the few return drivers you control. It is worth comparing against other funds that track Actively managed, no tracked index before you choose.
How do I compare JAVA to similar ETFs?
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Put a few fields side by side: the expense ratio (fees compound over decades), the index or strategy it tracks, the top holdings and how much they overlap with what you already own, the dividend yield, and the AUM, liquidity, and bid-ask spread that affect trading costs. For index funds, tracking error (how closely it follows its index) and tax efficiency matter too. JAVA's figures are above; the full method is in Walnut's guide on how to compare ETFs.
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Walnut is informational, not investment advice. Holdings weights and fund statistics on this page are approximations stamped to October 2026; verify current figures against J.P. Morgan Asset Management's fund page or your broker before investing.