According to Weiss Ratings, there are only 83 Exchanged Traded Funds (ETFs) that are currently rated a “BUY” out of their total rated group of 2,067 ETF’s. The next layer down, the HOLD’s includes 1,251 ETF’s and the SELL category has 733. One fund in the “BUY” category is Cohen & Steers Infrastructure Fund with a ticker symbol of UTF. As my heading for this post suggests, it is a way to own a mix of various infrastructure companies. This mix also includes toll roads, water, electric and gas utilities. This fund owns things you cannot easily buy yourself, like airports in Spain, Australia, Thailand and multiple airports in Mexico. It also holds shares of the West Japan Railway Company.   

Three of its holdings are stocks that I like and own: NEE, TRP and WEC.  It pays a monthly dividend that varies, month-to-month. The yield is 7.22% before expenses. According to Fidelity, the net expense ratio is a very high 2.44%, so I hesitate to buy it even though Weiss says it is a buy. Read my last paragraph, as I am wavering on this one!

UTF Top Ten Holdings as of 12/31/2018

UTF is a closed end fund. This means it is a collective investment model based on issuing a fixed number of shares which are not redeemable from the fund. Unlike open-end funds, new shares in a closed-end fund are not created by managers to meet demand from investors. This could make it an attractive investment if the fund’s assets perform well. It is a fund that looks like it has some potential for good long-term gains, so I might break my own rules about expense ratios and buy this fund.

Links: https://www.cefconnect.com/fund/UTF

PDF: https://assets.cohenandsteers.com/assets/content/resources/literature/Factsheet_UTF.pdf