Fund Evaluator:

Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I Overview

Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I (CDIVX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Mid-Cap Blend fund. Copeland Funds launched the fund in 2013.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation and income generation. The fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives of producing long-term capital appreciation and income generation, by applying its fundamental stock selection to purchase equities of companies with a proven track record of dividend growth. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (including borrowings for investment purposes) in securities that have increased their dividend in the most recent annual period.

About Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I (CDIVX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 15.60 years: Eric Brown (2010), Mark Giovanniello (2010). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100%. Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I has 64 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 25.5% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I has 6.3% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 93.4%. There is 6.3% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I has 0.4% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $9 million in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Mid-Cap Blend category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

CDIVX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Mid-Cap Blend category. Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I has an expense ratio of 1.05%, which is 7% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a C. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I has a portfolio turnover rate of 27%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 51% for the Mid-Cap Blend category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I returned 0.9%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Mid-Cap Blend category had an average return of -1.8%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.48% category average. The fund normally distributes its income annually and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Copeland Dividend Growth Fund Class I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 6.8%, 6.3 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of F. The fund has returned 12.0% over the past year (grade of F), 9.6% over the past three years (grade of D) and 7.1% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 8.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of F).

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