Fund Evaluator:

MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm Overview

MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm (MSTLX) is an actively managed Taxable Bond Short-Term Bond fund. MassMutual launched the fund in 1999.

The investment seeks to achieve a high total rate of return primarily from current income while minimizing fluctuations in capital values by investing primarily in a diversified portfolio of short-term investment grade fixed income securities. The fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes) in investment grade fixed income securities (rated Baa3 or higher by Moody's, BBB- or higher by Standard & Poor's or the equivalent by any NRSRO, or, if unrated, determined to be of comparable quality by the sub-adviser).

About MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm (MSTLX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 4.61 years: Charles Sanford (2020), Stephen Ehrenberg (2019), Rishi Kapur (2025). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: Bloomberg US Agg Bond TR USD index with a weighting of 100% and Bloomberg US Aggregate 1-3 Yr TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm has 269 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 67.6% 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.

MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Taxable Bond fund group. MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm has 11.8% 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 94.0% (82.3% domestic bond, 11.8% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm has 6.0% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $5 million in total assets, which is below the $904 million average for the Short-Term 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.

MSTLX 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 MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm expense ratio is above average compared to funds in the Short-Term Bond category. MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm has an expense ratio of 0.76%, which is 15% 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. MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm has a portfolio turnover rate of 47%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 135% for the Short-Term Bond category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm returned 0.2%, which earned it a grade of A, as the Short-Term Bond category had an average return of -0.0%. 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.

MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm has a trailing yield of 3.98%, which is below the 4.16% 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.

MML Barings Short-Duration Bond Adm Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 1.2%, 0.3 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of B. The fund has returned 3.5% over the past year (grade of C), 6.0% over the past three years (grade of A) and 2.0% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 2.2% per year over the past 10 years (grade of C).

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