Fund Evaluator:

Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst Overview

Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst (CTRZX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Intermediate Core-Plus Bond fund. Columbia Threadneedle launched the fund in 2017.

The investment seeks total return, consisting of capital appreciation and current income. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (including the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in bonds and other debt securities, including debt securities issued by the U.S. government, its agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored corporations, debt securities issued by corporations, mortgage- and other asset-backed securities, dollar-denominated securities issued by foreign governments, companies or other entities, bank loans and other obligations.

About Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst (CTRZX)

There are 16 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.87 years: Bryan Whalen (2013), Rajen Jadav (2026), Jerry Cudzil (2023), Dave Goodson (2018), Sean Banai (2024), Gregory Peters (2016), Anuranjan Sharma (2026), Matthew Angelucci (2023), Daniel Conklin (2019), Clifton Rowe (2016), Ruben Hovhannisyan (2023), Tyler Thorn (2023), Vinay Viralam (2026), Robert Tipp (2016), Richard Piccirillo (2016), Christopher Harms (2016). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst has 3948 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 15.2% 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.

Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst has 12.1% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.3% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 95.1% (83.0% domestic bond, 12.0% foreign bond and 0.1% convertible bond). Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst has 4.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $11 billion in total assets, which is above the $1 billion average for the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond 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.

CTRZX 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 Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst expense ratio is average compared to funds in the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category. Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst has an expense ratio of 0.48%, which is 38% lower than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a B. 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. Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst has a portfolio turnover rate of 225%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 169% for the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst returned 0.4%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category had an average return of 0.4%. 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.

Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst has a trailing yield of 4.54%, which is above the 4.34% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly.

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.

Multi-Manager Total Return Bd Strat Inst Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned -0.2%, 0.0 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 2.0% over the past year (grade of C), 4.5% over the past three years (grade of C) and -0.2% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 1.6% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

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