BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Fund (BTZ)

BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Fund (BTZ) is a popular bond closed end fund. This fund invests mainly in credit-related securities and securities with similar economic characteristics. The fund objective is to provide income with capital preservation.

This BlackRock fund is managed by Stephan Bassas, Jeffrey Cucunato, and Mitchel Garfin. It has a high yield of 7.83%. The fund sponsor is Blackrock Advisors. The current share price is $12.36. It has $2.37 billion of assets.

BTZ Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: 12/27/2006
• Ticker Symbol: BTZ
• CUSIP: 092508100
• Rank in category (YTD): 12%
• Category: Taxable Bond Fund
• Distribution Rate: 7.83%
• Effective Leverage: 32.45%
• Capital Gains: -
• Base Expense Ratio: 0.95%
• Net Assets: $ 2.37 billion
• Annual Turnover Rate: 29%

BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Fund Returns

Morningstar has ranked this bond fund with 5 star and bronze rating. In 2015, it has year to date return of 1.09% (up to July 29, 2015). It has returned 3.78% over the past 3 year and 7.31% over the past 5 year. The past 3 years performance is as follows:

• Year 2014: 6.30%
• Year 2013: 2.23%
• Year 2012: 21.43%

This bond fund has an annual portfolio turnover rate of 29%. The total number of holdings is 641. The top 5 holdings are U.S. Treasury Bonds 2.50% 2.50 15 Feb 2045, Aviation Cap Grp 7.125% 7.13 15 Oct 2020, Altria Grp 10.2% 10.20 06 Feb 2039, Norfolk Southern Corp., 6.00% 6.00, and Moodys Corp., 6.06% 6.06 07 Sep 2017. Top 3 sectors are corporate bond long term, preferred shares, and US Treasuries.

More: BlackRock Enhanced Equity Dividend Fund (BDJ)

Pros:

• This BlackRock Credit Allocation Income fund has a high yield for income.
• The market price is trading at 15.57% discount to its NAV.

Cons:

• None

More: BlackRock Equity Dividend A Fund (MDDVX)

Fund Approach

BlackRock Credit Allocation Income Trust’s (BTZ) investment objective is to provide current income, current gains and capital appreciation. This fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal market conditions, at least 80% of its assets in credit-related securities, including, but not limited to, investment grade corporate bonds, high yield bonds (commonly referred to as 'junk' bonds), bank loans, preferred securities or convertible bonds or derivatives with economic characteristics similar to these credit-related securities. The fund may invest directly in such securities or synthetically through the use of derivatives.