Any investors hoping to find a Mutual Fund Bond fund could think about starting with Dreyfus High Yield Municipals Bond A (DHYAX). DHYAX holds 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
BNY Mellon is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of DHYAX. Dreyfus High Yield Municipals Bond A made its debut in March of 2007, and since then, DHYAX has accumulated about $78.54 million in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.
Performance
Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 0.77%, and is in the bottom 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 -2.47%, 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. Compared to the category average of 13.28%, the standard deviation of DHYAX over the past three years is 10.83%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 10.84% compared to the category average of 13.84%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.
DHYAX carries a beta of 1.31, meaning that the fund is more volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a negative alpha of -1.07, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.
However, it is worth noting that 35 % of the bonds in this fund are not ranked, so take the average quality level with a bit of caution.
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, DHYAX is a load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.01% compared to the category average of 0.94%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, DHYAX is actually more expensive than its peers.