Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Advantage Funds managed more than $482 billion of assets as of Sep 30, 2018 from diverse mutual funds categories. The fund family manages a wide variety of mutual funds from domestic and foreign funds to money market funds, asset allocation funds and fixed-income funds. The Wells Fargo Fund family claims that it offers “funds in every key category, each guided by professional investment teams that have been chosen because of their proven, time-tested strategies.” The team also helps investors to clarify their investment ideas and identifies their “risk tolerance.”
Additionally, the owner of the Wells Fargo Advantage Funds brand, Wells Fargo, is one of the top four banks in the United States and has been maintaining its standard in the financial services sector for more than 150 years. It is a highly diversified financial services company with operations limited not only to the domestic market.
Below we share with you four top-ranked Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of Wells Fargo Advantage Funds.
Wells Fargo Advantage Pennsylvania Tax-Free A EKVAX seeks to provide tax-exempted income. EKVAX invests a chunk of its assets in municipal securities that are expected to provide interest income free from Pennsylvania individual income tax and federal income tax, both of which include federal alternative minimum tax. However, EKVAX may invest a maximum of 20% of its assets in municipal securities that pay interests, which are not exempted from federal income tax. The Wells Fargo Advantage PA Tax-Free A fund has three-year annualized returns of 1.8%.
EKVAX has an expense ratio of 0.74% compared with the category average of 0.98%.
Wells Fargo Precious Metals Inst EKWYX seeks appreciation of capital in the long run. The fund invests the lion’s share of its assets in investments, which are related to precious metals. This apart, the fund invests about 40% of its assets in equity securities from emerging markets. EKWYX also invests about one-fourth of its assets in debt securities related to precious metals as well as common or preferred stocks of subsidiaries of the fund, which invest in precious metals and minerals. Wells Fargo Precious Metals Inst has three-year annualized returns of 13.8%.
As of December 2018, EKWYX held 38 issues with 7.97% of its assets invested in Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.
Wells Fargo Index Asset Allocation A SFAAX seeks appreciation of capital as well as current income in the long run. The fund invests approximately four-fifths of its assets in equity as well as fixed income securities, which replicate the holdings and weightings of companies that constitute the S&P 500 Index and Bloomberg Barclays (LON:BARC) U.S. Treasury Index. Wells Fargo Index Asset Allocation A has three-year annualized returns of 8.2%.
Petros N. Bocray has been one of the fund managers of SFAAX since 2016.
Wells Fargo Municipal Bond A WMFAX seeks income, which is free from federal income tax. WMFAX invests the major part of its assets in municipal securities that offer federal income tax-exempted income. The fund may invest around one-fifth of its assets in securities that are subjected to federal alternative minimum tax. Wells Fargo Municipal Bond A has three-year annualized returns of 2.6%.
WMFAX has an expense ratio of 0.75% compared with the category average of 0.86%.
To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds.
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