Fund Evaluator:

BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z Overview

BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z (DBOZX) is an actively managed Allocation Moderate Allocation fund. BNY Mellon launched the fund in 2004.

The investment seeks high total return through a combination of capital appreciation and current income. To pursue its goal, the fund invests in a diversified mix of stocks and fixed-income securities. The managers select securities that, in the portfolio managers' judgment, will result in the highest total return consistent with preservation of principal. The mix of stocks and bonds varies from time to time, but normally the fund allocates between 25% and 50% of its assets to fixed-income securities and between 75% to 50% of its assets to equities.

About BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z (DBOZX)

There are 8 members of the management team with an average tenure of 6.99 years: John Bailer (2015), Brian Ferguson (2007), Julianne McHugh (2025), Torrey Zaches (2018), James Stavena (2022), Martin Chambers (2023), Karen Miki Behr (2021), Keith Howell Jr. (2021). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P 500 (TR) (1970) index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z has 443 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 21.4% 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.

BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z is part of the Allocation global asset class and is within the Allocation fund group. BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z has 11.6% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 57.1%. There is 7.1% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 35.2% (30.7% domestic bond, 4.5% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z has 0.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $30 million in total assets, which is below the $2 billion average for the Moderate Allocation 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.

DBOZX 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 BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Moderate Allocation category. BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z has an expense ratio of 0.97%, which is 2% lower 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. BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z has a portfolio turnover rate of 73%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 52% for the Moderate Allocation category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z returned -0.2%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Moderate Allocation category had an average return of -0.3%. 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.

BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z has a trailing yield of 1.31%, which is below the 1.97% 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.

BNY Mellon Balanced Opportunity Z Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 6.4%, 0.1 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 12.9% over the past year (grade of C), 11.9% over the past three years (grade of C) and 6.8% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 8.7% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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