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Is BHYIX a Strong Bond Fund Right Now?

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If you have been looking for High Yield - Bonds funds, a place to start could be BlackRock High Yield Bond Institutional (BHYIX - Free Report) . BHYIX possesses a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance.

Objective

BHYIX is classified in the High Yield - Bonds segment by Zacks, an area full of investment possibilities. High Yield - Bonds funds come in below investment grade, and are referred to as " junk " bonds for this reason. Compared to their investment grade peers, these funds are at a higher default risk, but typically pay out higher yields while posing similar interest rate risks.

History of Fund/Manager

BHYIX is a part of the BlackRock family of funds, a company based out of New York, NY. BlackRock High Yield Bond Institutional debuted in November of 1998. Since then, BHYIX has accumulated assets of about $13.74 billion, according to the most recently available information. A team of investment professionals is the fund's current manager.

Performance

Obviously, what investors are looking for in these funds is strong performance relative to their peers. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 7.29%, and it sits 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 6.91%, which places it in the middle 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. BHYIX's standard deviation over the past three years is 9.72% compared to the category average of 14.03%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 7.71% compared to the category average of 11.61%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade.

BHYIX carries a beta of 0.6, meaning that the fund is less volatile than a broad market index of fixed income securities. With this in mind, it has a positive alpha of 5.39, 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 0.55% compared to the category average of 1%. From a cost perspective, BHYIX is actually cheaper than its peers.

Investors need to be aware that with this product, the minimum initial investment is $2 million; each subsequent investment has no minimum amount.

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.

Don't stop here for your research on High Yield - Bonds funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare BHYIX to its peers as well for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place.


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