Wealth Manager Loads Up on Fixed Income ETF, According to Recent Filing

On October 16, 2025, Burns Matteson Capital Management, LLC disclosed a new position in iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IEF), acquiring approximately $2.56 million in shares for the quarter ended September 30, 2025.

What Happened

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated October 16, 2025, Burns Matteson Capital Management, LLC reported a new stake in iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF, purchasing approximately 26,550 shares. The estimated value of the transaction was $2.56 million. This marks the fund’s first reported holding in IEF, bringing its total number of reportable positions to 192.

What Else to Know

This is a new position, representing 1.01% of the fund’s reportable assets under management at the end of Q3 2025

Top holdings after the filing:

• GLW: $27.74 million (11.0% of AUM) at the end of Q3 2025
• SPHQ: $16.17 million (6.4% of AUM) as of September 30, 2025
• COWZ: $10.89 million (4.3% of AUM) at the end of Q3 2025
• IWY: $8.86 million (3.5% of AUM) as of September 30, 2025
• SCHD: $6.93 million (2.7% of AUM) as of September 30, 2025

As of October 15, 2025, shares of IEF were priced at $97.10, up 1.0% over the past year and have underperformed the S&P 500 by 8.5 percentage points during the same period.

IEF reported a trailing twelve-month dividend yield of 3.7% as of October 16, 2025, and stood 0.1% below its 52-week high as of October 15, 2025.

Fund Overview

Fund Snapshot

The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) provides targeted exposure to intermediate-term U.S. government bonds. With an asset base of $38.9 billion and an annualized dividend yield of 3.7% (both as of October 16, 2025), the fund is designed to deliver stable income and moderate interest rate risk by replicating the performance of its benchmark index through a portfolio of high-quality U.S. Treasury securities.

Investment strategy: Seeks to track the performance of the ICE U.S. Treasury 7-10 Year Bond Index, investing primarily in U.S. Treasury securities with maturities between seven and ten years.

Portfolio composition: Holds a diversified basket of U.S. Treasury bonds, with at least 90% of assets allocated to government securities matching the index criteria.

Investor base: Serves both institutional and individual investors seeking intermediate-term U.S. government bond exposure.

Foolish Take

Burns Matteson's recent acquisition of about $2.6 million worth of shares of the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) is an opportunity for average investors to learn more about this ETF to determine whether there is a place in their portfolio for it.

In brief, the IEF is a fixed-income ETF, rather than a stock ETF. Rather than investing in shares of public companies, fixed income ETFs invest in bonds, bills, and notes, from governments, municipalities, and corporations. For fixed income ETFs, interest rates, rather than corporate revenues or earnings, are the chief driver of valuation. As interest rates fall, existing bonds with higher coupon payments become more valuable, driving up their price. Similarly, if interest rates rise, existing bonds can become less valuable, pushing down their price.

Also of great importance to fixed income investors is yield. Since bonds deliver a regular payment to their holder, those payments are aggregated and paid out by fund managers. The IEF has a current dividend yield of 3.7% -- putting it in the same range as say, ExxonMobil, which pays a similar amount in the form of dividends.

However, since IEF holds bonds, rather than stock, its yield is far more consistent, owing to the slower movement of bond prices and overall stability within the bond market.

For example, year-to-date, IEF's dividend yield has stayed within a narrow band ranging from 3.58% to 3.79%. Meanwhile, ExxonMobil's dividend yield has ping-ponged between a high of 3.88% and a low of 3.26%.

What this all means is that investors who favor stability and certainty often prefer bond ETFs which generate steady income and whose yields are often more predictable than stock dividend payments.

To close, this purchase by Burns Matteson is simply sound portfolio management by a professional investment management company. However, for the average investor, fixed-income ETFs can play a role, too. Therefore, retail investors may want to take a closer look at iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF), if they are in the market for a fixed-income ETF.

Glossary

ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund): An investment fund traded on stock exchanges, holding assets like stocks or bonds.

Assets under management (AUM): The total market value of assets a fund or investment manager oversees on behalf of clients.

Dividend yield: Annual dividends paid by an investment, expressed as a percentage of its current price.

Trailing twelve-month (TTM): The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.

Benchmark index: A standard against which the performance of a fund or portfolio is measured.

Portfolio composition: The breakdown of the types and proportions of assets held in an investment portfolio.

Intermediate-term bonds: Bonds with maturities typically between five and ten years.

Reportable position: A holding in a security that must be disclosed in regulatory filings due to its size or significance.

Dividend: A payment made by a company or fund to its shareholders, usually from profits.

Holdings: The individual securities or assets owned by a fund or portfolio.

Index replication: An investment strategy aiming to match the performance of a specific index by holding similar securities.

Interest rate risk: The potential for investment losses due to fluctuations in prevailing interest rates.

Jake Lerch has positions in ExxonMobil. The Motley Fool recommends Corning. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.