Having trouble finding a Large Cap Blend fund? Well, Diamond Hill Large Cap Fund A (DHLAX) would not be a good potential starting point right now. DHLAX bears a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on various forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.
Objective
We note that DHLAX is a Large Cap Blend option, an area loaded with different options. More often than not, Large Cap Blend mutual funds invest in companies with a market cap of over $10 billion. Buying stakes in bigger companies offer these funds more stability, and are well-suited for investors with a ‘buy and hold’ mindset. Additionally, blended funds mix large, more established firms into their portfolios, giving investors exposure to value and growth opportunities.
History of Fund/Manager
Diamond Hill is responsible for DHLAX, and the company is based out of Columbus, OH. The Diamond Hill Large Cap Fund A made its debut in July of 2001 and DHLAX has managed to accumulate roughly $204.00 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. Nate Palmer is the fund’s current manager and has held that role since June of 2026.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. DHLAX has a 5-year annualized total return of 5.51%, and it sits in the bottom third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 10.86%, 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. The standard deviation of DHLAX over the past three years is 12.8% compared to the category average of 11.32%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 15.62% compared to the category average of 13.4%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
Risk Factors
Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.85, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio’s performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -5.97, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.