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Is T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth (TRLGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund could think about starting with T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth (TRLGX - Free Report) . TRLGX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of TRLGX. The T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth made its debut in October of 2001 and TRLGX has managed to accumulate roughly $17.55 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Taymour Tamaddon, has been in charge of the fund since January of 2017.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 11.06%, and it sits in the middle 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 5.03%, which places it in the middle 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. Over the past three years, TRLGX's standard deviation comes in at 20.69%, compared to the category average of 17.82%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 21% compared to the category average of 18.35%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.05, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. With a negative alpha of -0.08, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.

This fund is currently holding about 77.62% in stocks and it has 2.67% of assets in foreign securities. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Technology
  • Finance
Turnover is 20.6%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.

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, TRLGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.56% compared to the category average of 0.99%. From a cost perspective, TRLGX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $500,000, 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, T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth ( TRLGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth ( TRLGX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

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 TRLGX too for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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