Top Municipal Bond Mutual Funds 2012Municipal bond mutual funds invest most of its assets in higher quality rated municipal bonds. These bond funds provide income exempt from federal tax rate. They usually provide this tax free yield regularly (i.e. monthly or quarterly). They still have investment risks associated with them. Please check the fund prospectus for details.
From this best performing funds list, you may find each individual fund review. You can find the fund performance, expense ratio, and yield or dividend from the table below. The list is sorted based on its year to date performance in 2012 (up to September 23, 2012).
The 10 best performing municipal bond mutual funds 2012 are:
- SEI Tax-Exempt Tax-Advantaged Income Fund
- Performance Trust Municipal Bond Fund
- Eaton Vance National Municipal Income Fund
- Eaton Vance AMT-Free Municipal Income Fund
- Lord Abbett National Tax-Free Income Fund
- Lord Abbett AMT Free Municipal Bond Fund
- Pioneer AMT-Free Municipal Fund
- Nuveen All-American Municipal Bond Fund
- Eaton Vance Tax-Advantaged Bond Strategy Long Term Fund
- MainStay Tax-Free Bond Fund
SEI Tax-Exempt Tax-Advantaged Income A (SEATX)
As a Muni National Interm fund, SEI Tax-Exempt Tax-Advantaged Income fund is ranked with 5-stars rating. Its investment objective is to provide tax efficient highest income level. The total net assets are $427.12 million. Its dividend yield is 4.31%. The last yield was distributed in the amount of $0.04 last August 2012. It is currently managed by Joseph A. Deane.
This best performing muni bond fund has YTD return of 12.69%. The only year it has negative return was in 2008 with -19.91%. The fund has returned 13.72% over the past 1-year and 10.26% over the past 3-years.
Performance Trust Municipal Bond Institutional (PTIMX)
This Performance Trust Municipal Bond fund is under the management of Trust for Professional Managers (PTIA). It has low total net assets of $20.74 million. It also has 3.32% yield. The expense ratio is 0.55% per year.
Top Performer Municipal Bond ETFs 2012
You can purchase this fund with minimum initial investment of $5,000. The YTD return is 11.77%. The average maturity is 13.32 years and average portfolio duration is 6.54 years.
As of August 2012, the top 10 holdings are Citizens Property Insurance Co Senior Secured (2.80%), Miami Beach Fl Health Facs Auth Sinai Med Ctr Fl (2.90%), Cicero Il Ref-Corporate Purpose Bonds (2.70%), New Jersey St Higher Education AMT Student Loan (2.70%) and Phoenix Az Individual Dev Auth Lease Rowan University (2.70%).
Eaton Vance National Municipal Income A (EANAX)
The Eaton Vance National Municipal Income fund utilizes its assets to purchase tax free municipal obligations. It has 5.11 billion of assets. The dividend yield is 4.78%. It also has 2-stars rating from Morningstar. This muni bond fund has 0.69% expense ratio. The turnover rate is low, only 18.00% (data as of September 18, 2012). The fund CUSIP is 27826L330.
Lipper General Municipal Debt Category and Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Long Index (After-Tax) are the benchmarks of this fund. Based on the load adjusted returns, this fund has returned 4.45% over the past 10-year and 7.08% over the past 5-years. As of June 2012, the top holdings are PR Sales Tax Finance Corp (AMBAC), TX Muni Gas Acq & Supply Corp, North Texas Tollway Authority, Provena Health System, IL and New Jersy St Transn Tr Fd Authority.
Eaton Vance AMT-Free Municipal Income A (ETMBX)
Eaton Vance AMT-Free Municipal Income fund objective is to provide income exempt from regular federal income tax. This Muni National Long fund was first introduced to public in January 1998. The fund has annual expense ratio of 0.85%. It also has 4.17% of 12-month dividend yield. The YTD return of this fund is 469.94 million.
This best performing municipal bond mutual fund can be purchased from 93 brokerages. You can buy it with minimum initial investment of $1,000 for brokerage account. The 5-year annualized return is 4.83%. The top 10 holdings represent 18.66% of the total portfolio.
Lord Abbett National Tax-Free Income A (LANSX)
The Lord Abbett National Tax-Free Income fund invests majority of assets in debts issued by states, territories and possessions of the United States and the District of Columbia. It is managed by Daniel S. Solender since July 2006. The total assets are $2.00 billion. Last August, the fund has just distributed the $0.04 dividend to its investor. There is 0.20% management fee and 2.25% of front-end sales load fee.
Top 12 Municipal Bond Mutual Funds 2012
This top performer municipal bond fund has returned in 23 years of positive return since 1984. The best 1-year total return was in 2009 with 24.59%. It also has 10.77% YTD return and 6.01% 5-year average return. The current shares price is $11.47.
The top holdings as of August 2012 are NJ Tobacco Settlement Finance Corp (1.3%), California State General Obligation (1.1%), Arizona State Sports & Tourism Authority (1.0%), San Buenaventura –Community Member Health Systems (1.0%) and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (1.0%).
Lord Abbett AMT Free Municipal Bond A (LATAX)
The investment aim of Lord Abbett AMT Free Municipal Bond fund is to provide maximum amount of interest income exempt from federal income tax with reasonable risk. It uses its assets to buy portfolio of investment grade municipal debts that are not subjected to federal alternative minimum tax. Its total assets are $164.82 million. The dividend yield is 4.01%. The YTD return is 9.77%.
More: The 10 Best National Municipal Bond Closed End Funds
The top holdings as of August 2012 are New York City Transitional Finance Authority (1.1%), Las Vegas Valley Water District (0.9%), LA Public Facilities – Dynamic Fuels (0.9%) and San Antonio Ed Facs – Trinity University (0.9%). The fund’s NAV is $16.30.
Disclosure: No Position
| No | Fund Description | Ticker | Rating | YTD Return (%) | Expense Ratio (%) | Total Assets (Mil) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SEI Tax-Exempt Tax-Advantaged Income A | SEATX | 5 | 12.69 | 0.86 | 437 |
| 2 | Performance Trust Municipal Bond Instl | PTIMX | N/A | 12.02 | 0.55 | 21 |
| 3 | Eaton Vance National Municipal Income A | EANAX | 2 | 11.68 | 0.69 | 5169 |
| 4 | Eaton Vance AMT-Free Municipal Income A | ETMBX | 2 | 11.2 | 0.85 | 471 |
| 5 | Lord Abbett Natl Tax-Free Income A | LANSX | 3 | 11.07 | 0.76 | 2020 |
| 6 | Lord Abbett AMT Free Municipal Bond A | LATAX | N/A | 10.03 | 0.5 | 171 |
| 7 | Pioneer AMT-Free Municipal A | PBMFX | 3 | 9.86 | 0.82 | 936 |
| 8 | Nuveen All-American Municipal Bond A | FLAAX | 4 | 9.27 | 0.77 | 2756 |
| 9 | Eaton Vance Tx-Advntgd Bd Strat Lg Trm A | EALTX | N/A | 9 | 0.95 | 29 |
| 10 | MainStay Tax-Free Bond A | MTBAX | 3 | 8.96 | 0.81 | 686 |
| 11 | Columbia AMT-Free Tax-Exempt Bond A | INTAX | 3 | 8.95 | 0.79 | 643 |
| 12 | Delaware Tax-Free USA A | DMTFX | 4 | 8.79 | 0.8 | 661 |
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