MFS Municipal Income Trust
Find Ratings Reports- Last Ratings Update:02/29/2024
- Price as of 02/29/2024 :$5.27
- Net Assets:$216.79 Million
- NAV:$6.05
- Premium-12.89%
- Peer Rank:76 of 116
- Investment Rating:D
- Performance:D
- RiskC+
We rate MFS Municipal Income Trust at D. Negative factors that influence this rating include a high expense structure. The fund invests approximately 99% of its assets in bonds and may be considered for investors seeking a Municipal - National strategy.
Total return ranks well below peers over the last three years. The MFS Municipal Income Trust has returned an annual rate of 5.41% since inception. More recently, the fund has generated a total return of 0.24% in the last five years, -3.59% in the last three years, and 11.17% in the last year. How does that compare to other equity funds? In the last five years, it has outperformed 15% of them. It has also outpaced 18% of its competitors on a three year basis and 72% of them over the last year for the period ending 2/29/2024. On a year to date basis, MFM has returned 3.45%.
Downside risk has been above average. MFM has a draw down risk of -39.23%, which is the largest price decline experienced over the last three years. This fund has a three year standard deviation of 19.6%. This fund has experienced a high level of volatility in its monthly performance over the last 36 months.
High expense ratio hinders performance. On total assets of $216.79 million, MFM maintains a high expense ratio compared to its Municipal - National peers of 3.08% to cover all operating costs. Brokerage costs for the fund to buy and sell shares are not included in the expense ratio. As MFM is a closed end fund, it has no front end or back end load.
Manager tenure and performance record are net positives. Substandard fund managers tend to be replaced, so a long tenure is usually a good sign that a fund is achieving its objectives. The MFS Municipal Income Trust has been managed by Geoffrey L. Schechter for the last 20 years. Over that period, the manager was able to capture more actual gains in excess of the expected return than 76% of other fund managers.