Fund Evaluator:

Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 Overview

Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 (MENRX) is an actively managed Nontraditional Equity Derivative Income fund. Madison Funds launched the fund in 2012.

The investment seeks to provide consistent total return and, secondarily, to provide a high level of income and gains from option premiums. The fund invests, under normal conditions, primarily in common stocks of large- and mid-capitalization issuers that are, in the view of the fund's investment adviser, selling at a reasonable price in relation to their long-term earnings growth rates. It will invest at least 80% of its net assets in common stocks, with at least 65% of this amount invested in common stocks of large capitalization issuers that meet the fund's selection criteria.

About Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 (MENRX)

There are 2 members of the management team with an average tenure of 13.18 years: Drew Justman (2016), Ray DiBernardo (2009). 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 CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite BXM TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 has 69 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 43.6% 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.

Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Nontraditional Equity fund group. Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 has 0.0% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 92.3%. 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 0.0% (0.0% domestic bond, 0.0% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 has 7.7% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $1 million in total assets, which is below the $233 million average for the Derivative Income 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.

MENRX 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 Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Derivative Income category. Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 has an expense ratio of 0.90%, which is 20% 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. Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 has a portfolio turnover rate of 78%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 114% for the Derivative Income category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 returned 5.9%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Derivative Income category had an average return of 1.7%. 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.

Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 has a trailing yield of 8.09%, which is above the 4.47% category average. The fund normally distributes its income quarterly 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.

Madison Covered Call & Equity Income R6 Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 6.1%, 1.9 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 10.3% over the past year (grade of F), 5.3% over the past three years (grade of F) and 6.6% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 8.0% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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