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Is PDBZX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you're looking for a Mutual Fund Bond fund category, then a potential option is PGIM Total Return Bond Z (PDBZX - Free Report) . PDBZX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

PDBZX is a part of the PGIM family of funds, a company based out of Providence, RI. PGIM Total Return Bond Z made its debut in September of 1996, and since then, PDBZX has accumulated about $16.25 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 0.62%, and is 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 -3.21%, which places it in the bottom 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. Over the past three years, PDBZX's standard deviation comes in at 7.05%, compared to the category average of 15.71%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 6.86% compared to the category average of 13.79%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.96, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, PDBZX has a negative alpha of -0.03, 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, PDBZX has 57.01% in high quality bonds rated at least 'AA' or higher, while 27.52% are of medium quality, with ratings of 'A' to 'BBB'. The fund has an average quality of AA, and 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, PDBZX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.49% compared to the category average of 0.83%. From a cost perspective, PDBZX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $0, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Fees charged by investment advisors have not been taken into considiration. Returns would be less if those were included.

Bottom Line

Overall, PGIM Total Return Bond Z ( PDBZX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, better downside risk, and lower fees, PGIM Total Return Bond Z ( PDBZX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

For additional information on the Mutual Fund Bond 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 PDBZX too for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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