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Is Vanguard Balanced Index Institutional (VBAIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
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Are you on the hunt for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Balanced Index Institutional (VBAIX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VBAIX. Vanguard Balanced Index Institutional debuted in December of 2000. Since then, VBAIX has accumulated assets of about $11.31 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.21%, and it sits 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 9.3%, 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. The standard deviation of VBAIX over the past three years is 12.03% compared to the category average of 14.08%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.64% compared to the category average of 12.56%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.64, the fund is likely to be less 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.76. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, VBAIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.06% compared to the category average of 0.86%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VBAIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $5 million and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $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 VBAIX 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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Is Vanguard Balanced Index Institutional (VBAIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Are you on the hunt for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Balanced Index Institutional (VBAIX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.
History of Fund/Manager
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VBAIX. Vanguard Balanced Index Institutional debuted in December of 2000. Since then, VBAIX has accumulated assets of about $11.31 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 8.21%, and it sits 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 9.3%, 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. The standard deviation of VBAIX over the past three years is 12.03% compared to the category average of 14.08%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.64% compared to the category average of 12.56%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
With a 5-year beta of 0.64, the fund is likely to be less 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.76. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
Expenses
Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, VBAIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.06% compared to the category average of 0.86%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, VBAIX is actually cheaper than its peers.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $5 million and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $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 VBAIX 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.