Fund Evaluator:

LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional Overview

LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional (LKSMX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Mid-Cap Growth fund. LKCM launched the fund in 2011.

The investment seeks to maximize long-term capital appreciation. The fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing under normal circumstances at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of small-mid capitalization companies. The fund primarily chooses investments that the Adviser believes are likely to have above-average growth in revenue and/or earnings and potential for above-average capital appreciation.

About LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional (LKSMX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 9.81 years: Mason King (2017), Daniel Downes (2021), J. King (2011). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Russell 3000 TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Russell 2500 TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional has 57 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 33.2% 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.

LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional has 6.9% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 89.6%. There is 6.9% 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). LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional has 3.6% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $42 million in total assets, which is below the $658 million average for the Mid-Cap 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.

LKSMX 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 LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Mid-Cap Growth category. LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional has an expense ratio of 1.01%, 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. LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional has a portfolio turnover rate of 44%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 77% for the Mid-Cap Growth category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional returned -4.4%, which earned it a grade of B, as the Mid-Cap Growth category had an average return of -5.5%. 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.

LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional has a trailing yield of 0.00%, which is below the 0.03% 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.

LKCM Small-Mid Cap Equity Institutional Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 3.5%, 2.2 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of C. The fund has returned 7.3% over the past year (grade of B), 10.7% over the past three years (grade of C) and 4.9% per year over the past five years (grade of B) and 10.8% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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