New Core Equity ETF Drops As Low-Cost Active Funds Become Wall Street's New Obsession

PGIM has expanded its actively managed ETF lineup with the launch of a diversified U.S. equity fund.

The actively managed fund, PGIM Jennison U.S. Core Equity ETF (BATS:PJUS), offers broad U.S. market exposure through a cost-efficient ETF structure.

Jennison Associates, PGIM's fundamental equity and fixed income investment arm, is the subadvisor.

Key Features of PJUS

• The ETF holds a roughly 100-stock diversified U.S. core equity portfolio
• Managed using Jennison's bottom-up fundamental research approach
• Strategy emphasizes security selection with disciplined factor and risk controls
• Carries a 0.19% net expense ratio
• Subadvised by Jennison, which manages $190 billion in client assets
• PGIM now offers more than 60 actively managed ETFs
• PGIM ranks as the 12th-largest active ETF provider
• PGIM's ETF platform oversees approximately $23 billion in assets under management
• Parent company PGIM manages approximately $1.4 trillion in global AUM.

The launch comes as actively managed ETFs continue to gain traction among investors seeking lower-cost, tax-efficient alternatives to mutual funds without giving up professional stock selection.

Stuart Parker, Head of Global Wealth at PGIM, said expanding the firm's active ETF lineup remains a strategic priority as investor demand for "high-quality, actively managed strategies in an ETF wrapper continues to grow."

Jennison manages approximately $190 billion in client assets and brings a research-driven, bottom-up investment process to the new ETF. Ken Moore, head of Jennison, said the strategy applies the firm's long-standing security-selection discipline to a benchmark-aware core equity portfolio backed by a team of more than 50 investment professionals.

According to Morningstar Direct data, actively managed ETFs have rapidly gained market share, accumulating more than $1.7 trillion in assets and attracting $459 billion in net inflows in 2025 alone, representing 31% of total ETF flows despite accounting for just 10% of overall ETF assets.

The segment has expanded at a compound annual growth rate of more than 59% over the past three years—nearly double the broader ETF industry's pace. Active ETF launches also hit a record in 2025, with 962 new funds entering the market, marking the first time active ETFs outnumbered passive ETFs, a trend expected to continue into 2026, per an American Century Investments report.