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Is PDVYX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? You might want to begin with Putnam Diversified Income Y (PDVYX - Free Report) . PDVYX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

Putnam Funds is responsible for PDVYX, and the company is based out of Canton, MA. Since Putnam Diversified Income Y made its debut in October of 1998, PDVYX has garnered more than $627.86 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of -0.26%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 0.08%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.

It is important to note that the product's returns may not reflect all its expenses. Any fees not reflected would lower the returns. Total returns do not reflect the fund's [%] sale charge. If sales charges were included, total returns would have been lower.

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 PDVYX over the past three years is 5.01% compared to the category average of 13.08%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 7.58% compared to the category average of 13.85%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

PDVYX carries a beta of 0.1, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -1.25, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Ratings

Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, PDVYX has 56.06% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while its junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 25.74%. This means that the fund has an average quality of A, and focuses on high quality securities.

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, PDVYX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.39% compared to the category average of 0.83%. From a cost perspective, PDVYX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, Putnam Diversified Income Y ( PDVYX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, Putnam Diversified Income Y ( PDVYX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare PDVYX to its peers as well 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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