Fund Evaluator:

Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service Overview

Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service (RYDVX) is an actively managed U.S. Equity Mid-Cap Blend fund. Royce Investment Partners launched the fund in 2004.

The investment seeks long-term growth of capital and current income. Royce & Associates, LP ("Royce"), the fund's investment adviser, invests the fund's assets primarily in dividend-paying equity securities of companies with stock market capitalizations up to $15 billion that the advisor believes are trading below its estimate of their current worth. Normally, the fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities that produce dividend income to the fund, and at least 65% will be issued by companies with stock market capitalizations up to $15 billion at the time of investment.

About Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service (RYDVX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 1.92 years: Miles Lewis (2024), Joseph Hintz (2024), Jag Sriram (2024). 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%. Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service has 56 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 32.3% 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.

Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the U.S. Equity fund group. Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service has 2.2% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 94.7%. There is 2.2% 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). Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service has 3.1% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $14 million in total assets, which is below the $1 billion average for the Mid-Cap Blend 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.

RYDVX 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 Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Mid-Cap Blend category. Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service has an expense ratio of 1.34%, which is 37% 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. Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service 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 53% for the Mid-Cap Blend category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service returned 0.0%, which earned it a grade of D, as the Mid-Cap Blend category had an average return of 0.7%. 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.

Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service has a trailing yield of 0.78%, which is above the 0.48% 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.

Royce Smid-Cap Total Return Service Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 19.8%, 6.1 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 16.3% over the past year (grade of C), 17.1% over the past three years (grade of A) and 9.8% per year over the past five years (grade of A) and 10.8% per year over the past 10 years (grade of B).

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