Fidelity Puritan Fund (FPURX)

Fidelity funds are among of the most popular mutual funds. They have various old and best rated funds such as Fidelity Magellan, Fidelity Puritan, Fidelity Growth Company, and more. This next fund review is Fidelity Puritan. This fund is balanced fund which invests in stock or equity and bond or fixed income.

Fidelity Puritan (FPURX)

The Fidelity Puritan fund’s objective is to provide income and capital growth consistent with reasonable risk. This hybrid fund invests 60% of assets in stocks or equities and the remainder in bonds and other debt securities, including lower-quality debt securities. It invests >25% of total assets in fixed-income senior securities such as debt securities and preferred stock. The fund also invests in domestic and foreign issuers and invests in Fidelity funds.

Fund Details

• Fund Inception Date: 04/16/1947
• Ticker Symbol: FPURX
• CUSIP: 316345107
• Beta (3yr): 1.05
• Rank in category (YTD): 33%
• Category: Moderate Allocation
• Distribution: 1.83%
• Capital Gains: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.59%
• Net Assets: $18.64 billion
• Number of Years Up: 49 years
• Number of Years Down: 14 years
• Annual Turnover Rate: 154.00%

Updated on 12/12/2011

This Moderate Allocation hybrid fund was first introduced to public in 1947. Ramin Arani has been managing this fund since February 2007. The fund has annual expense ratio of 0.59%. The average expense ratio in the Moderate Allocation is 1.03%. It has total net assets of $18.64 billion. The dividend yield of this fund is 1.83%. The most recent dividend distribution was in October 14, 2011 ($0.08). The annual holdings turnover as of November 16, 2011 is 154%.

This FPURX fund has 4-stars rating from Morningstar. The YTD return of this top rated balanced fund is 1.27%. Based on the load adjusted return, this moderate allocation balanced fund fund has returned 5.95% over the past 1-year, 12.36% over the past 3-year and 5.43% over the past 10-year. The ratio of positive return and negative return of this fund is 49:14. Within the 14 years of negative return, the worst 1-year total return was in 2008 (-29.16%).

This balanced fund can be purchased through 82 brokerages. They are Merrill Lynch, T Rowe Price, Vanguard, JP Morgan, LPL SAM Eligible, EP Fee Small, E Trade Financial, Royal Alliance, Schwab Retail, Ameritas NTF N, TIAA-CREF Brokerages Services, etc. The minimum initial investment for either brokerage or IRA accounts is $2,500. There is no minimum subsequent investment required. This is a no-load fee. There is no other class available for this fund.

As of September 2011, the top 5 countries diversification of this Fidelity Puritan Fund are USA (89.29%), United Kingdom (2.45%), France (1.12%), Ireland (1.09%) and Switzerland (1.07%). The top 10 holdings out of 1938 total holdings represent 19.36% of total portfolio.  The major market equities sectors are Information Technology (20.56%), Consumer Staples (14.09%), Energy (13.72%), Consumer Discretionary (12.72%) and Financials (12.40%).

Per the fund’s prospectus, the principal risks of this fund include: Stock Market Volatility, Interest Rate Changes, Foreign Exposure, Prepayment, Issuer-Specific Changes, etc.

Pros:

• Low expense ratio fee

Cons:

• Actively managed
• High portfolio turnover rate

Disclosure: No Position

Other Balanced Funds:

• Vanguard Wellesley Income fund (VWINX)
• FBR Balanced Fund (AFSAX)