If you have been looking for Government Mortgage – Intermediate funds, a place to start could be Vanguard GNMA Admiral (VFIJX). VFIJX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
The world of Government Mortgage – Intermediate funds is an area filled with choices, such as VFIJX. A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security that packages mortgages together and then sells off the pooled securities. Government Mortgage – Intermediate funds focus on this market; this fund category presents a medium risk and yield profile, and concentrates on MBS with at least three years to maturity but less than 10.
Vanguard Group is based in Malvern, PA, and is the manager of VFIJX. Vanguard GNMA Admiral made its debut in February of 2001, and since then, VFIJX has accumulated about $9.81 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Brian Conroy who has been in charge of the fund since May of 2019.
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. VFIJX has a 5-year annualized total return of 0.19% and is in the top 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 -0.91%, which places it in the top 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, VFIJX’s standard deviation comes in at 7.79%, compared to the category average of 10.69%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund’s standard deviation is 6.12% compared to the category average of 10.43%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
With a beta of 1.01, this fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, VFIJX has a negative alpha of -0.28, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
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, VFIJX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.11% compared to the category average of 0.75%. From a cost perspective, VFIJX is actually cheaper than its peers.