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Is BlackRock Equity Dividend R (MRDVX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Zacks Equity Research
·4-min read

Having trouble finding a Mutual Fund Equity Report fund? BlackRock Equity Dividend R (MRDVX) is a possible starting point. MRDVX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

History of Fund/Manager

BlackRock is based in New York, NY, and is the manager of MRDVX. The BlackRock Equity Dividend R made its debut in January of 2003 and MRDVX has managed to accumulate roughly $435.40 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund is currently managed by Tony DeSpirito who has been in charge of the fund since August of 2014.

Performance

Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 7.98%, and is in the middle 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 8.59%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame.

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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, MRDVX's standard deviation comes in at 18.92%, compared to the category average of 16.46%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 16.83% compared to the category average of 14.64%. 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 0.86, which means it is hypothetically less volatile than 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. The fund has produced a negative alpha over the past 5 years of -2.05, which shows that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick 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 mostly on equities that are traded in the United States.

As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 79.54% of its assets in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $112.47 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors:

  1. Finance

  2. Technology

Turnover is about 47%, so those in charge of the fund make fewer trades than its comparable peers.

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, MRDVX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.27% compared to the category average of 0.99%. So, MRDVX is actually more expensive than its peers from a cost perspective.

While the minimum initial investment for the product is $100, investors should also note that there is no minimum for each subsequent investment.

Bottom Line

Overall, BlackRock Equity Dividend R ( MRDVX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, BlackRock Equity Dividend R ( MRDVX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now.

Your research on the Mutual Fund Equity Report segment doesn't have to stop here. You can check out all the great mutual fund tools we have to offer by going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds to see the additional features we offer as well 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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