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Is Invesco Diversified Dividend A (LCEAX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Looking for a Large Cap Blend fund? You may want to consider Invesco Diversified Dividend A (LCEAX - Free Report) as a possible option. LCEAX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

LCEAX is classified in the Large Cap Blend segment by Zacks, which is an area full of potential. Targeting companies with market caps of more than $10 billion, Large Cap Blend mutual funds offer a stable investment choice; these funds are perfect for investors with a 'buy and hold' mindset. Since blended funds mix large, more established firms into their portfolios, investors are exposed to both value and growth opportunities.

History of Fund/Manager

LCEAX finds itself in the Invesco family, based out of Kansas City, MO. Invesco Diversified Dividend A made its debut in December of 2001, and since then, LCEAX has accumulated about $3.95 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund's current manager is a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. LCEAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 9.21%, and it sits in the middle 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 13.56%, which places it in the bottom 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, LCEAX's standard deviation comes in at 11.76%, compared to the category average of 11.09%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 13.12% compared to the category average of 12.95%. 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. LCEAX has a 5-year beta of 0.71, which means it is likely to be less volatile than 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -1.16, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Expenses

Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, LCEAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.83% compared to the category average of 0.92%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, LCEAX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $1,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, Invesco Diversified Dividend A ( LCEAX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about LCEAX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.

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