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Is GTRAX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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Investors in search of a Mutual Fund Bond fund might want to consider looking at PGIM Global Total Return A (GTRAX - Free Report) . While this fund is not tracked by the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, we were able to examine other factors like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

PGIM is responsible for GTRAX, and the company is based out of Providence, RI. Since PGIM Global Total Return A made its debut in July of 1986, GTRAX has garnered more than $246.63 million in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. GTRAX has a 5-year annualized total return of -2.39% and is in the bottom 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 -6.92%, which places it in the bottom 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. The standard deviation of GTRAX over the past three years is 11.39% compared to the category average of 15.2%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 9.4% compared to the category average of 13.31%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

GTRAX carries a beta of 1.15, meaning that the fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -1.84, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

Ratings

Investors should also consider a bond's rating, which is a grade ( 'AAA' to 'D' ) given to a bond that indicates its credit quality. With this letter scale in mind, GTRAX has 25.03% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 47.7% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund's junk bond component-bonds rated 'BB' or below-is at 21.85%, giving GTRAX an average quality of A. This means that it focuses on high quality securities.

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, GTRAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.88% compared to the category average of 0.83%. So, GTRAX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $1,000; each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100.

Bottom Line

Don't stop here for your research on Mutual Fund Bond funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare GTRAX to its peers as well for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


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