ACKY: Seeking Income Through Activist-Style Investing

Investors today are facing a familiar challenge: how to generate meaningful income while maintaining equity exposure. Traditional dividend ETFs may provide only modest yields, while broad equity benchmarks like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 have become heavily concentrated in a handful of mega-cap tech names.

For those seeking income and diversification beyond broad beta, VistaShares has introduced a new solution: the VistaShares Target 15™ ACKtivist Distribution ETF (ACKY).

What Is ACKY?

ACKY is an actively managed ETF with a dual objective: it seeks both income and long-term capital appreciation. The fund combines two complementary components:

Index Strategy – ACKY generally mirrors the top publicly disclosed holdings of Pershing Square Capital, the activist investment firm founded by Bill Ackman. These holdings are drawn from Pershing Square’s quarterly 13F filings and typically represent high-conviction, long-term equity positions. Specifically, the index is the BITA VistaShares Pershing Square Portfolio Top Picks Index.
Income Strategy – To generate income, ACKY implements a conservative, data-driven options overlay. The fund targets approximately 15% annual income, distributed monthly, primarily by selling options on its equity holdings.

While inspired by Pershing Square’s style, it is important to note that $ACKY is not affiliated with Bill Ackman or Pershing Square Capital. Instead, it aims to give investors exposure to that “activist” approach through a transparent, liquid ETF structure.

As VistaShares CEO Adam Patti told Reuters, a wide array of other managers who had high-conviction positions were analyzed before choosing Ackman.

Why Consider ACKY?

Seeks High Monthly Income
ACKY’s options overlay is designed to provide potential income, with a target of about 1.25% per month. The strategy emphasizes discipline: once the target is met, any potential excess option income is rolled back into net asset value rather than distributed, helping support portfolio stability.

Core Equity Exposure
By holding Pershing Square’s top disclosed equity positions, ACKY provides exposure across market capitalizations. This may help diversify portfolios that currently have heavy exposure to large-cap technology stocks while still maintaining equity participation.

Professional Options Management
Managing options-based strategies requires experience and rigor. VistaShares brings the same approach it applies to other Target 15™ ETFs, combining systematic research with active oversight to balance income generation with capital preservation.

How Advisors and Investors Might Use It

For income-focused investors, ACKY offers the potential for high monthly distributions without moving entirely into bonds or higher-risk yield vehicles.

For advisors, ACKY may serve as a differentiated portfolio tool: it provides equity exposure tied to a well-known investment style while seeking income levels that go beyond traditional dividend funds.

In practice, ACKY can be considered part of a core equity allocation while also acting as a diversifier to broad market ETFs such as the S&P 500 or QQQ. From younger investors building an income stream to retirees who prioritize monthly cash flow, ACKY is designed to appeal across investor profiles.

Key Considerations

As with any ETF, it’s important to understand how ACKY’s mechanics work:

Filing Cadence: Because Pershing Square’s holdings are reported quarterly, ACKY’s portfolio may reflect positions with a modest delay of up to about 45 days. We believe this matters less given Pershing Square’s historically low turnover and long-term, high-conviction approach.
Options Trade-off: The income strategy relies on options, which means upside participation is capped in exchange for monthly income potential. Investors should expect roughly 75% of the equity portfolio’s upside and about 85% of the downside.
Focused Portfolio: ACKY’s portfolio is relatively concentrated by design, reflecting Pershing Square’s investment philosophy.

Summing Up

ACKY represents a new way to access activist-style equity exposure while pursuing potentially high monthly income. By blending Pershing Square-inspired holdings with a professionally managed options overlay, the ETF seeks to offer investors and advisors an income solution that is both differentiated and practical in portfolio construction.

As Patti told Benzinga, strategies like ACKY are designed to translate the core benefits of legendary investors like Bill Ackman into a transparent, liquid vehicle. “The benefits for investors are that while many may not qualify to invest directly with some of these legendary investors, through proper portfolio construction and fund management, we can offer exposure to their best thinking,” he said.

Learn more about VistaShares Target 15™ ACKtivist Distribution ETF (ACKY), including holdings, distributions, and more, on the ACKY product page.

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About VistaShares

At VistaShares, we strive to deliver innovative investment solutions for today’s investors, helping them navigate evolving market opportunities with confidence. VistaShares ETFs are actively managed by industry and investment experts, offering two distinct strategies. Our Pure Exposure™ ETFs target technology-driven economic Supercycles™ that we believe are poised for significant growth. Additionally, our Target 15™ option-based income ETFs are designed to generate high monthly income while complementing a core equity portfolio.

Investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing. For a prospectus or summary prospectus with this and other information about the Fund, please call (844) 875-2288. Read the prospectus or summary prospectus carefully before investing. 

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. 

Index / Strategy Risks. The Index’s holdings are derived from publicly available data, which may be delayed relative to the then current portfolio of Pershing Square. Consequently, the Fund’s holdings, which are based on the Index, may not accurately reflect Pershing Square’s most recent publicly-disclosed investment positions and may deviate substantially from its actual current Portfolio. The equity securities represented in the Index are subject to a range of risks, including, but not limited to, fluctuations in Market conditions, increased competition, and evolving regulatory environments, all of which could adversely affect their performance.

Focused Portfolio Risk. The Fund will hold a relatively focused portfolio that may contain exposure to the securities of fewer issuers than the portfolios of other ETFs. Holding a relatively concentrated portfolio may increase the risk that the value of the Fund could go down because of the poor performance of one or a few investments.

Distribution Risk. Although the Fund has an annual income target, the Fund intends to distribute income on a monthly basis. There is no assurance that the Fund will make a distribution in any given month.

Derivatives Risk. Derivatives are financial instruments that derive value from the underlying reference asset or assets, such as stocks, bonds, or funds (including ETFs), interest rates or indexes.

Monthly Distributions. Monthly distributions, if any, may include a return of capital. While this can provide tax-deferred income and is a common feature of options-based strategies, it may reduce the Fund’s NAV and trading price over time if not supported by sufficient income or capital gains. If distributions consistently exceed the Fund’s earnings, investors may experience a decline in the value of their investment and could ultimately suffer significant losses.

Options Contracts Risk. The use of options contracts involves investment strategies and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio securities transactions. The prices of options are volatile and are influenced by, among other things, actual and anticipated changes in the value of the underlying instrument, including the anticipated volatility, which are affected by fiscal and monetary policies and by national and international political, changes in the actual or implied volatility or the reference asset, the time remaining until the expiration of the option contract and economic events.

Equity Market Risk. Common stocks are generally exposed to greater risk than other types of securities, such as preferred stock and debt obligations, because common stockholders generally have inferior rights to receive payment from specific issuers. The equity securities held in the Fund’s portfolio may experience sudden, unpredictable drops in value or long periods of decline in value.

U.S. Government and U.S. Agency Obligations Risk. The Fund may invest in securities issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities. U.S. Government obligations include securities issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. Government, its agencies or instrumentalities, such as the U.S. Treasury.

New Fund Risk. The Fund is a recently organized management investment company with no operating history. As a result, prospective Investors do not have a track record or history on which to base their investment decisions.

Newer Sub-Adviser Risk. VistaShares is a recently formed entity and has limited experience with managing an exchange-traded fund, which may limit the Sub-Adviser’s effectiveness.

Nasdaq-100: A stock market index made up of equity securities issued by 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

S&P 500: A stock market index that tracks the stock performance of about 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the US.

13F Filing: A quarterly report that institutional investment managers must file if they manage $100 million or more in assets.

Beta: measures an asset’s volatility in relation to the overall market

The BITA VistaShares Pershing Square Portfolio Top Picks Index is a benchmark index designed to track the top publicly disclosed equity holdings of William Ackman’s hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management

Foreside Fund Services, LLC, distributor. 