Are you on the hunt for an Index fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Admiral (VTSAX Quick QuoteVTSAX - 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 VTSAX. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Admiral made its debut in November of 2000 and VTSAX has managed to accumulate roughly $272.08 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 has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 16.69%, 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 12.41%, 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, VTSAX's standard deviation comes in at 19.6%, compared to the category average of 15.32%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 15.76% compared to the category average of 12.83%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. VTSAX has a 5-year beta of 1.04, which means it 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.06. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Examining 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 92.62% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, with an average market capitalization of $239.06 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

1. Technology
2. Finance
3. Retail Trade

This fund's turnover is about 10%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than its comparable peers.

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, VTSAX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.04% compared to the category average of 0.80%. From a cost perspective, VTSAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $3,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Index, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. If you want to check out our stock reports as well, make sure to go to Zacks.com to see all of the great tools we have to offer, including our time-tested Zacks Rank.