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If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z (PIFZX - Free Report) could be a potential option. PIFZX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
PIFZX is a part of the PGIM family of funds, a company based out of Providence, RI. PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z debuted in December of 1996. Since then, PIFZX has accumulated assets of about $8.99 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.42%, 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 1.02%, which places it in the middle 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. Compared to the category average of 12.77%, the standard deviation of PIFZX over the past three years is 4.47%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.54% compared to the category average of 11.17%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.47, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PIFZX has a positive alpha of 0.3, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
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, PIFZX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.47% compared to the category average of 0.68%. So, PIFZX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z ( PIFZX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z ( PIFZX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on PIFZXin the Mutual Fund Bond 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.
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Is PIFZX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?
If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z (PIFZX - Free Report) could be a potential option. PIFZX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
History of Fund/Manager
PIFZX is a part of the PGIM family of funds, a company based out of Providence, RI. PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z debuted in December of 1996. Since then, PIFZX has accumulated assets of about $8.99 billion, according to the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.
Performance
Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 1.42%, 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 1.02%, which places it in the middle 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. Compared to the category average of 12.77%, the standard deviation of PIFZX over the past three years is 4.47%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 3.54% compared to the category average of 11.17%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 0.47, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PIFZX has a positive alpha of 0.3, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
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, PIFZX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.47% compared to the category average of 0.68%. So, PIFZX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.
This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $0, while there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.
Bottom Line
Overall, PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z ( PIFZX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, PGIM Short-Term Corporate Bond Z ( PIFZX ) looks like a great potential choice for investors right now.
This could just be the start of your research on PIFZXin the Mutual Fund Bond 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. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike.