Fund Evaluator:

Hartford Total Return Bond R4 Overview

Hartford Total Return Bond R4 (ITBUX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Intermediate Core-Plus Bond fund. Hartford Mutual Funds launched the fund in 2006.

The investment seeks a competitive total return, with income as a secondary objective. The fund invests at least 80% of its assets in bonds that the sub-adviser considers to be attractive from a total return perspective along with current income. It may invest up to 20% of its net assets in securities rated below investment grade (also known as "junk bonds").

About Hartford Total Return Bond R4 (ITBUX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 7.15 years: Campe Goodman (2012), Rob Burn (2016), Jeremy Forster (2024), Connor Fitzgerald (2024). 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%. Hartford Total Return Bond R4 has 1770 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 26.2% 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.

Hartford Total Return Bond R4 is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. Hartford Total Return Bond R4 has 0.7% 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 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 99.1% (98.3% domestic bond, 0.7% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Hartford Total Return Bond R4 has 0.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $8 million in total assets, which is below 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.

ITBUX 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 Total Return Bond R4 expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category. Hartford Total Return Bond R4 has an expense ratio of 0.72%, which is 8% 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. Hartford Total Return Bond R4 has a portfolio turnover rate of 64%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 180% for the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond category.

Recently, in the month of June 2026, Hartford Total Return Bond R4 returned 0.2%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Intermediate Core-Plus Bond 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.

Hartford Total Return Bond R4 has a trailing yield of 4.00%, which is below the 4.29% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly 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 Total Return Bond R4 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 0.6%, 0.1 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 3.9% over the past year (grade of C), 4.5% over the past three years (grade of D) and 0.1% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 1.9% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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