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Is T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Core (TPLGX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

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Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund might consider looking past T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Core (TPLGX - Free Report) . TPLGX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of TPLGX. The T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Core made its debut in October of 2003 and TPLGX has managed to accumulate roughly $3.03 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Paul Greene who has been in charge of the fund since October of 2021.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. TPLGX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.09% and it sits in the bottom 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 2.99%, 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. TPLGX's standard deviation over the past three years is 24.44% compared to the category average of 24.29%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 21.36% compared to the category average of 21.2%. 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. TPLGX has a 5-year beta of 1.06, which means it is likely to be more volatile than 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. TPLGX's 5-year performance has produced a negative alpha of -4.41, which means managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Exploring 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

Right now, 97.92% of this mutual fund's holdings are stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $399.89 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  • Technology
  • Finance
  • Retail Trade
Turnover is 14.4%, which means, on average, the fund makes fewer trades than its comparable peers.

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, TPLGX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.56% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, TPLGX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $1 million, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, T. Rowe Price Institutional Large Cap Core ( TPLGX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

For additional information on this product, or to compare it to other mutual funds in the Mutual Fund Equity Report, make sure to go to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.


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