MutualFunds.com analyzes the search patterns of our visitors every two weeks to find the top trending funds. By sharing these trends with our readers, we hope to provide insights into what the financial world is concerned about and how to position your portfolio.

First, we select the top trending category from more than 200 categories listed on MutualFunds.com based on the percentage increase in monthly viewership. From the top trending category, we select the top three funds with the highest 1-year trailing total returns. To ensure quality and staying power of funds, we only look at those mutual funds with a minimum $250 million in assets and a track record of at least three years. We also remove those mutual funds that are closed to new investors and are not available for investment outside registered accounts such as retirement or 529 accounts.

In this edition, we take a look at large-cap value equity funds – one of the most common fund types investors hold in their portfolios. Unlike growth-oriented funds, value funds search for dividend payers and low-volatility stocks. While growth funds usually focus on companies in their early life cycle that have the potential to substantially grow revenues, value funds focus on well-established companies with solid fundamentals. By limiting stocks to those classified as large-cap, volatility is greatly reduced as well, making these funds a good choice to add to portfolios with a longer-term outlook.

As the name suggests, large-cap value equity funds usually invest at least 80% of their assets into companies that have a market cap of $10 billion or greater, and also exhibit typical characteristics of a value stock, such as a low price-to-earnings ratio and a stable dividend profile.

Be sure to check out the Large-Cap Value Equity Funds page to find out more about the other funds in this category as well.

The top three funds in this category are broken down further below.

EATVX, offered through TIAA Investments, has a strong track record with a 1-year return of 16.59%. It comes with a 1.18% expense ratio, putting it solidly in the middle compared to funds of the same category, but it does come with an additional front-end load of 5.75% as a Class A type mutual fund. As a tax-managed fund, management seeks out companies with strong balance sheets trading at discounted valuations while employing trading strategies that limit distributions and maximize after-tax returns. The fund attempts to match the performance of the Russell 1000 Value Index.

The fund’s manager, Edward J. Perkin, is the vice president and chief equity investment officer of Eaton Vance Management. He has more than five years’ tenure running the fund. He is supported by Aaron S. Dunn, CFA, vice president and Bradley T. Galko, vice president.

The top five holdings for the fund include: J.P.Morgan Chase (JPM), NextEra Energy (NEE), Verizon Communications (VZ), Sempra Energy (SRE), Apple (AAPL) and PNC Financial Services Group (PNC).

Learn more about different Portfolio Management concepts here.

Another strong performer in our grouping, VSPVX, has a 1-year return of 15.64%. The extremely low expense ratio of just 0.08% makes this fund one of the cheapest in its category giving investors the most back for gains earned in the fund. However, as an index-type fund, it offers a passive management style and only seeks to match the performance of its benchmark index, the S&P 500 Value Index.

Donald M. Butler, CFA, has been with Vanguard since 1992. He has been managing the fund since December 2015. He is supported by Michelle Louie, CFA, who joined the team in November 2017.

Five of the fund’s top ten holdings include: Berkshire Hathaway Inc B (BRK-B), AT&T (T), Bank of America (BAC), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH).

Find out which of the funds are most suitable for your portfolio by using our free Screener.

The second Vanguard fund on our list, VCVLX, generated a decent 1-year return of 14.84%. An expense ratio of 0.29% makes it one of the lowest in its class as well. The fund prioritizes value first and foremost and invests in both large-cap as well as mid-cap stocks. The flexibility to invest across various market segments makes it a unique fund as far as Vanguard’s typical equity funds are concerned, as they mostly focus on a specific segment of the market. On the flipside, the aggressive investment strategies employed by VCVLX’s management team generate a high turnover, making it a higher risk fund in the value category. The fund considers the Russell 3000 Value Index as its benchmark.

The fund’s manager is David W. Palmer,CFA, senior managing director and equity portfolio manager of Wellington Management with a decade of experience managing this fund.

The fund’s top five holdings include CVS Health (CVS), Comcast Corp Class A (CMCSA), Philip Morris International (PM), Intel (INTC) and MetLife (MET).

Want to learn more about portfolio rebalancing? Click here.

Keeping up-to-date with the latest trends in investor activity means that you’ll never be caught unaware in an underperforming fund or miss out on profitable new opportunities. Our analysis of the top three funds will give you insight into building a large-cap value stock portfolio that balances strong annual gains with minimal risk exposure.

And don’t forget to visit our News section to catch up with the latest news about mutual fund performance.

Note: Data as of February 21, 2020