Have you been searching for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You might want to begin with Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Institutional (VITSX Quick QuoteVITSX - 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

VITSX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Institutional made its debut in July of 1997 and VITSX has managed to accumulate roughly $69.69 billion in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Gerard O'Reilly who has been in charge of the fund since November of 2000.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 9.36%, and it sits 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 11.68%, 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. The standard deviation of VITSX over the past three years is 21.54% compared to the category average of 18.18%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 19.28% compared to the category average of 15.85%. 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. VITSX has a 5-year beta of 1.03, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. VITSX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -0.56, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Examining 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 principally on equities that are traded in the United States.

Currently, this mutual fund is holding 99.42% stock in stocks, which have an average market capitalization of $213.88 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

• Technology
• Finance
• Retail Trade

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, VITSX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.03% compared to the category average of 0.78%. From a cost perspective, VITSX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $5 million, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $1.

Bottom Line

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Equity Report area of the mutual fund world, make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds. There, you can see more about the ranking process, and dive even deeper into VITSX too 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.