Foothills Asset Management Ltd extensively uses highly liquid exchange-traded funds to diversify its accounts. ETFs comprised 34 of the 58 disclosed holdings in the company's fourth-quarter 2016 Form 13-F, representing about two-thirds of the $130.3 million total portfolio value at Dec. 31, 2016.

Foothills was founded in 1995 and is a fee-only registered investment adviser run by Keith Wibel and his wife, Florence. The firm charges asset-based fees, eschewing performance-based fees. According to its ADV brochure from February 2016, Foothills selects "mutual funds or exchange-traded funds to obtain broad diversification in certain segments of the portfolio, such as international exposure."

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Foothills initiated positions in four U.S. equity ETFs and three bond ETFs. The largest new position at Dec. 31, 2016, was for SPDR S&P Regional Banking (KRE), valued at $3.0 million. Some of the companies included in the equal-weighted bank ETF are M&T Bank Corp., PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and SunTrust Banks Inc.

Foothills owns an eclectic mix of ETFs, offering exposure to various bond and equity markets. The common theme is funds with large asset bases; each of Foothill's top 20 ETFs hold $3 billion in assets. The largest position in the portfolio at year-end 2016 was Vanguard Total Bond Market at $8.5 million.

The remainder of the company's positions at the end of 2016 consisted of three mutual funds, four financial institution common stocks and 17 common stocks in other sectors. Fiserv Inc. was the largest financial institution holding, valued at $2.7 million. Foothills increased its stake in Intercontinental Exchange Inc. by 386% during the quarter. Its other financial institution positions were Visa Inc. ($2.2 million) and MGIC Investment Corp. ($125,000).

Click here to view Foothill's current common stock holdings that are covered by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Company filings including the 13F can be found through the documents tab on a company's briefing book page.