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

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If you have been looking for Large Cap Growth funds, a place to start could be 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 nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

TRLGX is classified in the Large Cap Growth segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Companies are usually considered to be large-cap if their stock market valuation is more than $10 billion. Large Cap Growth mutual funds invest in many large U.S. firms that are projected to grow at a faster rate than their large-cap peers.

History of Fund/Manager

TRLGX is a part of the T. Rowe Price family of funds, a company based out of Baltimore, MD. T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth debuted in October of 2001. Since then, TRLGX has accumulated assets of about $21.28 billion, according to the most recently available information. Taymour Tamaddon is the fund's current manager and has held that role since January of 2017.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 25.26%, and is in the top third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 21.23%, 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 19.94%, the standard deviation of TRLGX over the past three years is 19.14%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.06% compared to the category average of 16.41%. This makes the fund less 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. TRLGX has a 5-year beta of 1, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. TRLGX's 5-year performance has produced a positive alpha of 7.45, which means 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 79.08% of its assets in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $451.46 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology
  2. Retail Trade
  3. Finance
This fund's turnover is about 18.6%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than comparable funds.

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, TRLGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.56% compared to the category average of 1.03%. So, TRLGX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1 million and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Growth ( TRLGX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Large Cap Growth segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well 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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