If you have been looking for Mid Cap Growth funds, a place to start could be Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 (HRAUX Quick QuoteHRAUX - Free Report) . HRAUX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

Zacks categorizes HRAUX as Mid Cap Growth, a segment packed with options. Mid Cap Growth mutual funds aim to target companies with a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion that are also expected to exhibit more extensive growth opportunities for investors than their peers. A firm is typically considered to be a growth stock if it consistently posts impressive sales and/or earnings growth.

History of Fund/Manager

HRAUX finds itself in the Carillon family, based out of St. Petersburg, FL. The Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 made its debut in August of 2011 and HRAUX has managed to accumulate roughly $3.45 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.09%, and is 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 -2.85%, 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. The standard deviation of HRAUX over the past three years is 20.47% compared to the category average of 16.25%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 21.68% compared to the category average of 16.94%. 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. HRAUX has a 5-year beta of 1.1, which means it is likely to be more volatile than the market average. 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. HRAUX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -6.62, demonstrating 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.

The mutual fund currently has 84.22% of its holdings in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $34.58 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

• Technology
• Services
• Retail Trade
• Industrial Cyclical
• Non-Durable

With turnover at about 49%, this fund is 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, HRAUX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.64% compared to the category average of 0.97%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, HRAUX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1 million, while 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, Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 ( HRAUX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on HRAUXin the Mid Cap Growth category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank 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.