JNL Series Trust

04/29/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/29/2024 09:00

Summary Prospectus by Investment Company - Form 497K

Summary Prospectus - April 29, 2024
JNL/Morningstar Wide Moat Index Fund
Class A
Class I
Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund's Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund's Prospectus and other information about the Fund, including the Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") and most recent reports to shareholders, online at https://www.jackson.com/fund-literature.html. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-644-4565 (Annuity and Life Service Center), 1-800-599-5651 (NY Annuity and Life Service Center), 1-800-777-7779 (for contracts purchased through a bank or financial institution) or 1-888-464-7779 (for NY contracts purchased through a bank or financial institution), or by sending an email request to [email protected]. The current Prospectus and SAI, both dated April 29, 2024, as amended, are incorporated by reference into (which means they legally are a part of) this Summary Prospectus.
Investment Objective. The investment objective of the Fund is to provide total return by tracking the performance, net of expenses, of the Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexSM.
Expenses. This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund.
The expenses do not reflect the expenses of the variable insurance contracts or the separate account through which you indirectly invest in the Fund, whichever may be applicable, and the total expenses would be higher if they were included.
You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.
Shareholder Fees
(fees paid directly from your investment)
Not Applicable
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Class A
Management Fee
0.20%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
0.30%
Other Expenses1
0.26%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.76%
1
"Other Expenses" include an Administrative Fee of 0.15% which is payable to Jackson National Asset Management, LLC ("JNAM" or "Adviser").

Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Class I
Management Fee
0.20%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees
0.00%
Other Expenses1
0.26%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses
0.46%
1
"Other Expenses" include an Administrative Fee of 0.15% which is payable to Jackson National Asset Management, LLC ("JNAM" or "Adviser").

Expense Example. This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. Also, this example does not reflect the expenses of the variable insurance contracts or the separate account through which you indirectly invest in the Fund, whichever may be applicable, and the total expenses would be higher if they were included. The table below shows the expenses you would pay on a $10,000 investment, assuming (1) 5% annual return; (2) redemption at the end of each time period; and (3) that the Fund operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:
JNL/Morningstar Wide Moat Index Fund Class A
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
$78
$243
$422
$942

JNL/Morningstar Wide Moat Index Fund Class I
1 year
3 years
5 years
10 years
$47
$148
$258
$579

Portfolio Turnover (% of average value of portfolio). The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Expense Example above, affect the Fund's performance.
Period
1/1/2023 - 12/31/2023
71
%

Principal Investment Strategies. The Fund seeks to invest under normal circumstances at least 80% of its assets (net assets plus the amount of any borrowings made for investment purposes) in the securities in the Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus IndexSM ("Index"). The Fund attempts to replicate the Index by investing all or substantially all of its assets in the stocks that make up the Index.
The Index is equal weighted and provides exposure to companies with Morningstar Economic Moat Ratings of "Wide" that are trading at the lowest current market price/fair value ratios. Moat ratings and fair value estimates are determined through independent research conducted by the Morningstar Equity Research team ("Morningstar Research").
Wide-moat companies are those in which Morningstar Research has very high confidence that excess returns will remain for 10 years, with excess returns more likely than not to remain for at least 20 years. An economic moat is a structural feature that allows a firm to sustain excess profits over a long period of time. Morningstar Research defines excess profits as returns on invested capital (ROICs), above their estimate of a firm's cost of capital, or weighted average cost of capital (WACC). Without a moat, profits are more susceptible to competition. Morningstar Research has identified five sources of economic moats: intangible assets, switching costs, network effect, cost advantage, and efficient scale. To assess the sustainability of excess profits, analysts perform ongoing assessments of what Morningstar Research calls the "moat trend." A firm's moat trend is positive in cases where Morningstar Research believes its sources of competitive advantage are growing stronger; stable where they do not anticipate changes to competitive advantages over the next several years; or negative when they see signs of deterioration.
Morningstar Research uses a standardized, proprietary valuation model to assign fair values to potential Index constituents' common stock. Morningstar's equity research team estimates the issuer's future free cash flows and then calculates an enterprise value using weighted average costs of capital as the discount rate. Morningstar Research then assigns each issuer's common stock a fair value by adjusting the enterprise value to account for net debt and other adjustments.
The Index employs a staggered rebalance methodology and is divided into two sub-portfolios. Each typically contains 40 stocks. However, if securities fall short of the selection and eligibility criteria or if securities are added or deleted as a result of corporate actions after reconstitution, the sub-portfolio can hold more or fewer than 40 companies. In addition, securities that are deleted from the Morningstar® US Market IndexSM after June and December reconstitutions are simultaneously deleted from the Index. One sub-portfolio reconstitutes in December and June, the other in March and September. At each reconstitution, the 40 securities representing the lowest current market price/fair value are selected from the list of eligible securities for the sub-portfolio. A buffer rule is applied to the current Index constituents. Current constituents ranked within the top 150% of the target count in the eligible universe based on current market price/fair value ratio are retained in the Index. The maximum weight of an individual sector in the Index is capped at 10% more than its corresponding weight in the Morningstar® US Market IndexSM at the time of reconstitution, or 40%, whichever is higher. Due to the staggered rebalance methodology, constituents and weightings may vary between sub-portfolios. As a rule, adjustments to one sub-portfolio are performed after the close of business on the third Friday of March and September and adjustments to the other sub-portfolio are performed after the close of business on the third Friday of June and December, and all adjustments are effective on the following Monday. If the Monday is a market holiday, reconstitution and rebalancing occurs on the Tuesday immediately following. In addition to the quarterly staggered reconstitution of sub-portfolio, the sub-portfolios weights are reset to 50% every June and December and distributed among the securities within them in proportion to their weight.
The aggregate portfolio can contain between 40 and 80 constituents.
The Fund intends to hold the same number of securities as the Index. As of December 31, 2023, the Index included 50 securities of companies with a market capitalization range of between approximately $9.71 billion to $2.79 trillion and a weighted average market capitalization of $608.27 billion. These amounts are subject to change.
The Fund may invest in financial futures, a type of derivative that may be used to obtain exposure to a variety of underlying assets, to provide liquidity for cash flows, to hedge dividend accruals or for other purposes that facilitate meeting the Fund's objective. The Fund's use of financial futures is intended to assist replicating the investment performance of the Index.
The Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") to assist with Fund rebalances and to meet redemption or purchase requests. The Fund's holdings are rebalanced on a regular basis to reflect changes in the composition of the Index.
Mellon Investments Corporation, the Fund's sub-adviser ("Sub-Adviser"), uses a "passive" or "indexing" approachto try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. The Fund does not employ traditional methods of active investment management, which involves the buying and selling of securities based upon security analysis.
The Fund may concentrate its investments in an industry or group of industries to the extent the Index that the Fund is designed to track is also concentrated.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not guaranteed. As with any mutual fund, the value of the Fund's shares will change, and you could lose money by investing in the Fund. The principal risks associated with investing in the Fund include:
Market risk - Portfolio securities may decline in value due to factors affecting securities markets generally, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment, public health issues, including widespread disease and virus epidemics or pandemics, war, terrorism or natural disasters, among others. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities. The values of securities may fall due to factors affecting a particular issuer, industry or the securities market as a whole.
Equity securities risk - Common and preferred stocks represent equity ownership in a company. Stock markets are volatile, and equity securities generally have greater price volatility than fixed-income securities. The price of equity or equity-related securities will fluctuate and can decline and reduce the value of a portfolio investing in equity or equity-related securities. The value of equity or equity-related securities purchased or held by the Fund could decline if the financial condition of the companies the Fund invests in decline or if overall market and economic conditions deteriorate. They may also decline due to factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or an increase in production costs and competitive conditions within an industry. In addition, they may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a company or industry, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or generally adverse investor sentiment.
License termination risk - The Fund may rely on licenses from a third party (licensor) that permit the Fund to use that party's intellectual property in connection with the Fund's name and/or investment strategies. The license may be terminated by the licensor, and as a result the Fund may lose its ability to use the licensed name or strategy, or receive important data from the licensor. Accordingly, a license may have a significant effect on the future operation of the Fund, including the need to change the investment strategy.
Concentration risk - The Fund may concentrate its investments in certain securities. To the extent that the Fund focuses on particular countries, regions, industries, sectors, issuers, types of investment or limited number of securities from time to time, the Fund may be subject to greater risks of adverse economic, business or political developments in the area of focus than a fund that invests in a wider variety of countries, regions, industries, sectors or investments.
Derivatives risk - Investments in derivatives, which are financial instruments whose value depends on, or is derived from, the value of underlying assets, reference rates, or indices, can be highly volatile and may be subject to transaction costs and certain risks, such as unanticipated changes in securities prices and global currency investment. Derivatives also are subject to leverage risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk, market risk, counterparty risk, and credit risk. They also involve the risk of mispricing or improper valuation and the risk that changes in the value of the derivative may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, interest rate or index. Gains or losses from derivatives can be substantially greater than the derivatives' original cost.
Exchange-traded funds investing risk - An investment in an ETF generally presents the following risks: (i) the same primary risks as an investment in a conventional fund (i.e., one that is not exchange-traded) that has the same investment objectives, strategies and policies; (ii) the risk that an ETF may fail to accurately track the market segment or index that underlies its investment objective; (iii) price fluctuation, resulting in a loss to the Fund; (iv) the risk that an ETF may trade at a discount to its net asset value; (v) the risk that an active market for an ETF's shares may not develop or be maintained; and (vi) the risk that an ETF may no longer meet the listing requirements of any applicable exchanges on which that ETF is listed. When the Fund invests in an ETF, shareholders of the Fund bear their proportionate share of the ETF's fees and expenses as well as their share of the Fund's fees and expenses.
Passive investment risk - The Fund is not actively managed. Unlike with an actively managed fund, the Fund does not use techniques or defensive strategies designed to lessen the effects of market volatility or to reduce the impact of periods of market decline. This means that, based on market and economic conditions, the Fund's performance could be lower than actively managed funds that realign their portfolios more frequently based on the real-time market trends.
Index investing risk - The Fund's indexing strategy does not attempt to manage volatility, use defensive strategies, or reduce the effects of any long-term periods of poor stock performance. Should the Fund engage in index sampling, the performance of the securities selected will not provide investment performance tracking that of the Index. Fund performance may not exactly correspond with the performance of the relevant index for a number of reasons, including, but not limited to: the timing of purchases and redemptions of the Fund's shares, changes in the composition of the index, and the Fund's expenses. Certain regulatory limitations, such as fund diversification requirements, may limit the ability of the Fund to completely replicate an index.
Tracking error risk - Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Index. The Fund's return may not track the return of the Index for a number of reasons. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Index, pricing differences, differences in transaction costs, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of or the valuation of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Index does not. However, the Fund may be required to deviate its investments from the securities and relative weightings of the Index to comply with the 1940 Act, as amended to meet the issuer diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to regulated investment companies, or as a result of local market restrictions, or other legal reasons, including regulatory limits or other restrictions on securities that may be purchased by the Investment Adviser and its affiliates.
Large-capitalization investing risk -Large-capitalization stocks as a group could fall out of favor with the market, which may cause the Fund to underperform funds that focus on other types of stocks.
Mid-capitalization investing risk - The stocks of mid-capitalization companies can be more volatile and their shares can be less liquid than those of larger companies. Mid-capitalization companies may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources or may depend on the expertise of a few people and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than securities of larger, more established companies or the market averages in general. Securities of such issuers may lack sufficient market liquidity to effect sales at an advantageous time or without a substantial drop in price.
Sector risk - Companies with similar characteristics may be grouped together in broad categories called sectors. Sector risk is the risk that securities of companies within specific sectors of the economy can perform differently than the overall market. For example, this may be due to changes in the regulatory or competitive environment or changes in investor perceptions regarding a sector. Because the Fund may allocate relatively more assets to certain sectors than others, the Fund's performance may be more susceptible to any developments which affect those sectors emphasized by the Fund. In addition, the Fund could underperform other funds investing in similar sectors or comparable benchmarks because of the investment manager's choice of securities within such sector.
Portfolio turnover risk - Frequent changes in the securities held by the Fund, including investments made on a shorter-term basis or in derivative instruments or in instruments with a maturity of one year or less at the time of acquisition, may increase transaction costs, which may reduce performance.
Securities lending risk - Securities lending involves the risk of loss or delays in recovery of the loaned securities or loss of rights in the collateral if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes insolvent.


Performance. The performance information shown provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund's performance from year to year and by showing how the Fund's average annual returns compared with those of a broad-based securities market index and an additional index that the Adviser believes more closely reflects the market segments in which the Fund invests. The Fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future.
The returns shown in the bar chart and table do not include charges that will be imposed by variable insurance products. If these amounts were reflected, returns would be less than those shown.
Effective April 27, 2020, the Fund was combined with the JNL/The London Company Focused U.S. Equity Fund (the "Acquired Fund"), a series of Jackson Variable Series Trust, with the Fund as the surviving Fund. The performance shown is the Fund's historic performance and does not reflect the performance of the Acquired Fund.
Effective April 29, 2024, the S&P 500 Index replaced the Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus Index℠ as the Fund's broad-based securities market index in accordance with new regulatory disclosure requirements. The Morningstar® Wide Moat Focus Index℠ is included as an additional index for the Fund because the Adviser believes it more closely reflects the market segments in which the Fund invests.
Annual Total Returns as of December 31

Class A
Best Quarter (ended 6/30/2020): 19.07%; Worst Quarter (ended 3/31/2020): -20.21%

Annual Total Returns as of December 31

Class I
Best Quarter (ended 6/30/2020): 19.08%; Worst Quarter (ended 3/31/2020): -20.13%

Average Annual Total Returns as of 12/31/2023
1 year
5 year
Life of Fund (August 13, 2018)
JNL/Morningstar Wide Moat Index Fund (Class A)
31.48
%
16.64
%
13.77
%
S&P 500 Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
26.29
%
15.69
%
12.08
%
Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
32.41
%
17.53
%
14.62
%

Average Annual Total Returns as of 12/31/2023
1 year
5 year
Life of Class (August 13, 2018)
JNL/Morningstar Wide Moat Index Fund (Class I)
31.78
%
16.98
%
14.11
%
S&P 500 Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
26.29
%
15.69
%
12.08
%
Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)
32.41
%
17.53
%
14.62
%

Portfolio Management.
Investment Adviser to the Fund:
Jackson National Asset Management, LLC ("JNAM")
Sub-Adviser:
Mellon Investments Corporation ("Mellon")
Portfolio Managers:
Name:
Joined Fund Management Team In:
Title:
Marlene Walker Smith
October 2020
Director, Head of Equity Index - Portfolio Management, Mellon
David France, CFA
October 2020
Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon
Todd Frysinger, CFA
October 2020
Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon
Vlasta Sheremeta, CFA
October 2020
Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon
Michael Stoll
October 2020
Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager, Mellon

Purchase and Redemption of Fund Shares
Only separate accounts of Jackson National Life Insurance Company ("Jackson") or Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York ("Jackson NY") and series, including fund of funds, of registered investment companies in which either or both of those insurance companies invest may purchase shares of the Fund. You may invest indirectly in the Fund through your purchase of a variable annuity or life insurance contract issued by a separate account of Jackson or Jackson NY that invests directly, or through a fund of funds, in this Fund. Any minimum initial or subsequent investment requirements and redemption procedures are governed by the applicable separate account through which you invest indirectly.
This Fund serves as an underlying investment by insurance companies, affiliated investment companies, and retirement plans for funding variable annuity and life insurance contracts and retirement plans.
Tax Information
The Fund's shareholders are separate accounts of Jackson or Jackson NY and mutual funds owned directly or indirectly by such separate accounts. Accordingly, the Fund's dividends and other distributions generally are not taxable to you, the contract owner or plan participant, but no further discussion is included about the U.S. federal income tax consequences to you. You should consult the prospectus of the appropriate separate account or description of the plan for a discussion of the U.S. federal income tax consequences to you of your contract, policy or plan.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Financial Intermediaries
If you invest in the Fund under a variable insurance contract or a plan that offers a variable insurance contract as a plan option through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a financial institution), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary's Website for more information.