Is Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus (VITPX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?
Have you been searching for a Large Cap Blend fund? You might want to begin with Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus (VITPX). VITPX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.
We note that VITPX is a Large Cap Blend option, an area loaded with different options. More often than not, Large Cap Blend mutual funds invest in companies with a market cap of over $10 billion. Buying stakes in bigger companies offer these funds more stability, and are well-suited for investors with a ‘buy and hold’ mindset. Additionally, blended funds mix large, more established firms into their portfolios, giving investors exposure to value and growth opportunities.
VITPX finds itself in the Vanguard Group family, based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Institutional Total Stock Market Plus made its debut in May of 2001, and since then, VITPX has accumulated about $29.47 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. Walter Nejman is the fund’s current manager and has held that role since April of 2016.
Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 14.1%, 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 19.84%, 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. Compared to the category average of 12.07%, the standard deviation of VITPX over the past three years is 13.26%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 15.4% compared to the category average of 13.88%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund’s risk compared to the market as a whole. VITPX has a 5-year beta of 1.02, which means it is likely to be as volatile as 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. With a negative alpha of -1.08, managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.
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 largely on equities that are traded in the United States.
The mutual fund currently has 91.25% of its holdings in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $507.16 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:
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Technology
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Finance
Turnover is 8%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.
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, VITPX is a no load fund and it has an expense ratio of 0.02%.
Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $100.00 million and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $1.
Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into consideration. Returns would be less if those were included.
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).