Fund Evaluator:

Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl Overview

Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl (HACAX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Large Growth fund. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc launched the fund in 1987.

The investment seeks long-term growth of capital. The fund invests primarily in equity securities, principally common and preferred stocks, of U.S. companies with market capitalizations of at least $1 billion at the time of purchase and that the Subadvisor considers to have above average prospects for growth. The stocks of mid and large cap companies in the fund's portfolio are those the Subadvisor expects to maintain or achieve above average earnings growth. The fund may invest up to 20% of its total assets in the securities of foreign issuers, including issuers located or doing business in emerging markets.

About Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl (HACAX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 5.40 years: Natasha Kuhlkin (2019), Owuraka Koney (2025), Blair Boyer (2019). 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 Russell 1000 Growth TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl has 52 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 56.7% 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.

Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl has 2.7% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 96.6%. There is 2.7% 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). Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl has 0.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $15 billion in total assets, which is above the $2 billion average for the Large Growth 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.

HACAX 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 Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Large Growth category. Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl has an expense ratio of 0.67%, which is 30% 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. Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl has a portfolio turnover rate of 28%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 55% for the Large Growth category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl returned 3.5%, which earned it a grade of C, as the Large Growth category had an average return of 3.3%. 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.

Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.06% 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.

Harbor Capital Appreciation Instl Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 8.1%, 0.9 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 12.4% over the past year (grade of C), 20.9% over the past three years (grade of B) and 8.8% per year over the past five years (grade of C) and 17.3% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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