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Is Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 (HRAUX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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On the lookout for a Mid Cap Growth fund? Starting with Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 (HRAUX - Free Report) is one possibility. HRAUX carries 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

Carillon is responsible for HRAUX, and the company is based out of St. Petersburg, FL. Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 debuted in August of 2011. Since then, HRAUX has accumulated assets of about $3.52 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. HRAUX has a 5-year annualized total return of 7.68%, and it sits in the middle third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 15.17%, 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, HRAUX's standard deviation comes in at 18.98%, compared to the category average of 15.75%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 20.2% compared to the category average of 15.31%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1.15, so investors should note that it is hypothetically more volatile than the market at large. 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. HRAUX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -8.73, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

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, HRAUX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.65% compared to the category average of 0.97%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, HRAUX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $1.00 million and that each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. 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, Carillon Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 ( HRAUX ) looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

This could just be the start of your research on HRAUX in 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.


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