Fund Evaluator:

Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 Overview

Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 (HERSX) is an actively managed International Equity Diversified Emerging Mkts fund. Hartford Mutual Funds launched the fund in 2011.

The investment seeks long-term capital appreciation. The fund invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of companies in emerging markets. It will typically seek to be broadly diversified across countries, sectors and industries represented in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, although the extent of that representation may vary. The fund has no limit on the amount of assets that may be invested in an emerging market country, including China. It may invest in securities of foreign issuers in the form of depositary receipts or other securities that are convertible into securities of foreign issuers.

About Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 (HERSX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 2.92 years: Mark Yarger (2020), Christopher Grohe (2024), Andrew Gossard (2026). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 1 primary benchmark: MSCI EM NR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 has 243 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 39.1% 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.

Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the International Equity fund group. Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 has 95.7% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 1.6%. There is 95.7% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.1% 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). Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 has 2.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $412 million in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Diversified Emerging Mkts 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.

HERSX 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 Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Diversified Emerging Mkts category. Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 has an expense ratio of 1.43%, which is 23% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a D. 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. Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 has a portfolio turnover rate of 109%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 68% for the Diversified Emerging Mkts category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 returned -0.4%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Diversified Emerging Mkts category had an average return of 0.2%. 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.

Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 has a trailing yield of 2.07%, which is above the 1.58% 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.

Hartford Emerging Markets Equity R4 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 27.2%, 1.5 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 44.1% over the past year (grade of C), 25.8% over the past three years (grade of B) and 9.4% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 11.0% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

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