Is BHYIX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

If investors are looking at the Mutual Fund Bond fund category, BlackRock High Yield Bond Institutional (BHYIX) could be a potential option. BHYIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

BHYIX is a part of the BlackRock family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. Since BlackRock High Yield Bond Institutional made its debut in November of 1998, BHYIX has garnered more than $13.74 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals.

Performance

Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. BHYIX has a 5-year annualized total return of 6.17% and is in the top 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 8.67%, 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 BHYIX over the past three years is 9.44% compared to the category average of 13.85%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 7.68% compared to the category average of 11.65%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

With a beta of 0.62, this fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. Taking this into account, BHYIX has a positive alpha of 3.96, which measures performance on a risk-adjusted basis.

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, BHYIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.56% compared to the category average of 1%. Looking at the fund from a cost perspective, BHYIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2 million, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, BlackRock High Yield Bond Institutional ( BHYIX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now.

Want even more information about BHYIX? Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. Want to learn even more? We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are.

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