LGH
HCM Defender 500 Index ETF
NORTHERN LIGHTS FUND TRUST III
ETFIndex fund
Expense ratio1
1.00%
Net assets2
$521.89M
Holdings2
416
Category
Other
2025 return3
19.58%

Investment objective & strategy

As of Oct. 27, 2025 · prospectus

Objective. The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond, before fees and expenses, generally to the performance of the HCM Defender 500 Index (the ?HCM 500 Index?).

Strategy. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in securities included in the HCM 500 Index. The HCM 500 Index seeks to outperform the Solactive US Large Cap Index using a proprietary methodology. The HCM 500 Index is comprised of securities in the Solactive US Large Cap Index (?Large Cap Equity Sub-Index?), which are common stocks issued by 500 large-capitalization companies traded on American stock exchanges; cash or cash equivalents; or a combination of both. The HCM 500 Index alternates exposure among a full position of securities in the Large Cap Equity Sub-Index ( i.e. , a full … The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing at least 80% of its net assets, including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in securities included in the HCM 500 Index. The HCM 500 Index seeks to outperform the Solactive US Large Cap Index using a proprietary methodology. The HCM 500 Index is comprised of securities in the Solactive US Large Cap Index (?Large Cap Equity Sub-Index?), which are common stocks issued by 500 large-capitalization companies traded on American stock exchanges; cash or cash equivalents; or a combination of both. The HCM 500 Index alternates exposure among a full position of securities in the Large Cap Equity Sub-Index ( i.e. , a full equity position), a 70/30 position of securities in the Large Cap Equity Sub-Index/cash or cash equivalents, a 40/60 position of securities in the Large Cap Equity Sub-Index/cash or cash equivalents; or a full position in cash or cash equivalents. The Fund may gain exposure to securities included in the HCM 500 Index indirectly through investments in derivatives and other investment companies. The HCM 500 Index is an index sponsored, created, compiled, and maintained by the adviser and uses a representative sampling strategy. The HCM 500 Index uses the HCM BuyLine (?BuyLine?), its proprietary quantitative investment model, to determine when the Fund should be in or out of the market. The BuyLine uses trend analysis to help identify the broad trend in the equity market. When the trend is down, the HCM 500 Index reduces exposure to equities, and when the trend is up, the HCM 500 Index increases exposure to equities. When the Solactive US Large Cap Index?s closing price drops to 3.5% below the BuyLine, the HCM 500 Index assumes a 70/30 position in equities and cash or cash equivalents. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index?s closing price drops to 6.5% below the BuyLine, the HCM 500 Index assumes a 40/60 position in equities and cash or cash equivalents. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index?s closing price drops to 12% below the BuyLine, the HCM 500 Index is 100% in cash or cash equivalents. Once the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine for five consecutive trading days, the HCM 500 Index will reinvest in equities. If the Solactive US Large Cap Index closes above the BuyLine without having previously closed below the 3.5%, 6.5% or 12% levels for at least five consecutive trading days, the HCM 500 Index will add or maintain exposure to track the Solactive US Large Cap Index. The Fund may invest in leveraged exchange-traded funds (?ETFs?) in seeking to track the HCM 500 Index?s investment exposure to the securities in the Solactive US Large Cap Index. The Fund may also invest up to 20% of its net assets at any time, including borrowings for investment purposes but exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in index futures, options, options on index futures, swap contracts or other derivatives, cash equivalents, other investment companies, as well as in securities and other instruments not included in the HCM 500 Index but which the adviser believes helps the Fund track the HCM 500 Index.

Top holdings

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
SecurityTickerValue% of fund
BBH SWEEP VEHICLE $310.61M 59.52%
NVIDIA CORP $17.01M 3.26%
APPLE INC $15.27M 2.93%
MICROSOFT CORP $11.29M 2.16%
AMAZON.COM INC $8.33M 1.60%
ALPHABET INC CL A $6.21M 1.19%
ALPHABET INC CL C $6.19M 1.19%
BROADCOM INC $5.90M 1.13%
META PLATFORMS INC CL A $5.31M 1.02%
TESLA INC $5.18M 0.99%
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Allocation by sector

As of March 31, 2026 · N-PORT
View portfolio breakdown →

Portfolio moves

Dec 31, 2025 → Mar 31, 2026
Opened
2
Exited
1
Increased
1
Decreased
413
Unchanged
1

How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.

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Advisers

As of June 30, 2025 · N-CEN
FirmRole
Howard Capital Management, Inc. Adviser

Footnotes

  1. Expense ratio as of October 27, 2025, from the fund's prospectus.
  2. Net assets and holdings count as of March 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
  3. Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. Computed by compounding the twelve monthly total returns the fund reported in its SEC N-PORT filings for 2025 (the latest prospectus does not yet chart this year).

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