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Is Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus (VITPX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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There are plenty of choices in the Large Cap Blend category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus (VITPX - Free Report) . VITPX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VITPX is part of the Large Cap Blend section, an area that boasts an array of many possible options. Large Cap Blend mutual funds most often invest in firms with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more. By investing in bigger companies, these funds offer more stability, and are often well-suited for investors with a " buy and hold " mindset. Blended funds mix large, established companies into their holdings, which gives investors exposure to both value and growth at the same time.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VITPX. The Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus made its debut in May of 2001 and VITPX has managed to accumulate roughly $30.51 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Walter Nejman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 13.97%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 13.25%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, VITPX's standard deviation comes in at 19.65%, compared to the category average of 14.91%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.06% compared to the category average of 12.87%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.05, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. VITPX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.5, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
Currently, this mutual fund is holding 99.04% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $232.12 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
Technology
Finance
Retail Trade
With turnover at about 14%, this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.
Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, VITPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.02% compared to the category average of 0.97%. VITPX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100 million, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus ( VITPX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Large Cap Blend area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VITPX too for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.
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Is Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus (VITPX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
There are plenty of choices in the Large Cap Blend category, but where should you start your research? Well, one fund that might be worth investigating is Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus (VITPX - Free Report) . VITPX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
VITPX is part of the Large Cap Blend section, an area that boasts an array of many possible options. Large Cap Blend mutual funds most often invest in firms with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more. By investing in bigger companies, these funds offer more stability, and are often well-suited for investors with a " buy and hold " mindset. Blended funds mix large, established companies into their holdings, which gives investors exposure to both value and growth at the same time.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VITPX. The Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus made its debut in May of 2001 and VITPX has managed to accumulate roughly $30.51 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. Walter Nejman is the fund's current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 13.97%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 13.25%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame.
When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Over the past three years, VITPX's standard deviation comes in at 19.65%, compared to the category average of 14.91%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.06% compared to the category average of 12.87%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 1.05, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. VITPX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.5, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Holdings
Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
Currently, this mutual fund is holding 99.04% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $232.12 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
- Technology
- Finance
- Retail Trade
With turnover at about 14%, this fund makes fewer trades than the average comparable fund.Expenses
For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, VITPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.02% compared to the category average of 0.97%. VITPX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $100 million, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.
Bottom Line
Overall, Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus ( VITPX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.
For additional information on the Large Cap Blend area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VITPX too for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.