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Is VTAPX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Are you on the hunt for a Mutual Fund Bond fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Short Term Inflation Protected Security Index Advisor (VTAPX - 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

VTAPX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Since Vanguard Short Term Inflation Protected Security Index Advisor made its debut in October of 2012, VTAPX has garnered more than $22.82 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by Joshua Barrickman who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2012.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 3.05%, and it sits in the bottom 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 4.16%, which places it in the bottom 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, VTAPX's standard deviation comes in at 1.97%, compared to the category average of 11.28%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 1.75% compared to the category average of 10%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.14, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VTAPX has a positive alpha of 1.95, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, VTAPX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.06% compared to the category average of 0.65%. So, VTAPX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $1.

Bottom Line

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 VTAPX to its peers 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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