What happened
According to a recent SEC filing, Opes Wealth Management LLC sold its entire position in First Trust Smith Opportunistic Fixed Income ETF (FIXD +0.15%), reducing its holdings by 210,085 shares during the first quarter of 2026. The estimated value of the trade was $9.3 million, based on quarterly average pricing.
What else to know
- Opes Wealth Management LLC fully exited FIXD, leaving the ETF at 0% of its 13F AUM post-trade, down from 1.5% the prior quarter.
- Top holdings after the filing:
- NASDAQ: AAPL: $92.41 million (15.8% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT: FNDF: $34.93 million (6.0% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT: CMF: $26.61 million (4.5% of AUM)
- NASDAQ: GILD: $23.64 million (4.0% of AUM)
- NYSEMKT: FNDB: $20.26 million (3.5% of AUM)
- As of April 27, 2026, FIXD shares were trading at $43.73, up about 5% over the past year, trailing the S&P 500 by roughly 24 percentage points
ETF overview
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| AUM | $3.4 billion |
| Expense ratio | 0.65% |
| Dividend yield | 4.64% |
| 1-year return (as of 4/27/26) | 5.23% |
ETF snapshot
The First Trust Smith Opportunistic Fixed Income ETF (FIXD) is a large-scale bond fund with $3.4 billion in assets under management.
- Seeks to maximize long-term total return by investing at least 80% of assets in fixed income securities.
- Emphasizes flexibility in sector allocation and duration positioning, aiming to capture income and capital appreciation opportunities across the bond market.
- Targets both institutional and retail investors seeking diversified bond exposure paired with a competitive dividend yield.
What this transaction means for investors
When a fund fully exits a position, it can feel more dramatic than it is -- especially when that position represented just 1.5% of the portfolio to begin with. Context, as always, matters.
Fixed income has faced a challenging environment as interest rates remain elevated, and FIXD's 5.2% one-year return -- while positive -- has badly lagged the broader equity market. For a wealth manager like Opes, which now holds Apple (AAPL 0.76%) at nearly 16% of its portfolio, this sell suggests a continued conviction in equities over bonds at this stage of the market cycle.
That said, investors shouldn't read this as a blanket indictment of fixed income. FIXD's 4.6% annualized dividend yield remains genuinely attractive for income-focused investors, particularly those seeking to reduce equity risk or generate steady cash flow. The fund's flexible, multi-sector bond approach also gives it tools to adapt as the rate environment evolves.
For retail investors watching institutional moves, the key takeaway here is context: Opes Wealth runs a heavily equity-oriented book, so shedding a small fixed-income position looks less like a warning and more like a portfolio that was already leaning towards growth -- and simply decided to lean further in that direction.
Bottom line: The broader fixed income market has had a tough run against equities, and Opes Wealth's decision to exit FIXD looks like one more data point in that story.
