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Is Vanguard Institutional Index Fund (VINIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Are you on the hunt for a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? You should think about starting with Vanguard Institutional Index Fund (VINIX). VINIX has no Zacks Mutual Fund Rank, but we have been able to look into other metrics like performance, volatility, and cost.

History of Fund/Manager

VINIX is a part of the Vanguard Group family of funds, a company based out of Malvern, PA. Vanguard Institutional Index Fund debuted in July of 1990. Since then, VINIX has accumulated assets of about $106.03 billion, according to the most recently available information. Donald M. Butler is the fund's current manager and has held that role since December of 2000.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund in particular has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 12.8%, and is in the top third among its category peers. Investors who prefer analyzing shorter time frames should look at its 3-year annualized total return of 13.34%, which places it in the top 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 VINIX over the past three years is 19.26% compared to the category average of 17.11%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 17.36% compared to the category average of 15.46%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

Risk Factors

The fund has a 5-year beta of 1, so investors should note that it is hypothetically as volatile as the market at large. 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. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a positive alpha of 0.01. This means that managers in this portfolio are skilled in picking securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns.

Holdings

Investigating 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.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 98.81% of its assets in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $415.85 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Technology

  2. Finance

  3. Retail Trade

Turnover is 3%, which means this fund makes fewer trades than comparable funds.

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, VINIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.04% compared to the category average of 0.79%. From a cost perspective, VINIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $5 million, and each subsequent investment should 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 VINIX too for additional information. And don't forget, Zacks has all of your needs covered on the equity side too! Make sure to check out Zacks.com for more information on our screening capabilities, Rank, and all our articles as well.


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