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Is Vanguard Growth Index Institutional (VIGIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Investors in search of a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund might want to consider looking at Vanguard Growth Index Institutional (VIGIX - Free Report) . VIGIX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VIGIX. The Vanguard Growth Index Institutional made its debut in May of 1998 and VIGIX has managed to accumulate roughly $27.19 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Gerard O'Reilly, has been in charge of the fund since November of 2000.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 24.62%, and is in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 30.05%, 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. Compared to the category average of 16.89%, the standard deviation of VIGIX over the past three years is 19.67%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 16.68% compared to the category average of 13.91%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

With a 5-year beta of 1.04, the fund is likely to be more volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. The fund has produced a positive alpha over the past 5 years of 5.26, which shows that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking 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 primarily on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 89.62% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $534.72 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Retail Trade
Turnover is about 12%, so those in charge of the fund make fewer trades than the average comparable fund.

Expenses

As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, VIGIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.04% compared to the category average of 1.02%. VIGIX is actually cheaper than its peers when you consider factors like cost.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $5 million; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report 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 VIGIX too for additional information. Zacks provides a full suite of tools to help you analyze your portfolio - both funds and stocks - in the most efficient way possible.


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