Fund Evaluator:

Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A Overview

Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A (WRAAX) is an actively managed Nontraditional Equity Equity Hedged fund. Wilmington Funds launched the fund in 2012.

The investment seeks to achieve long-term growth of capital with lower volatility than broader equity markets. The fund invests at least 80%, under normal circumstances, of the value of its net assets in equity securities. It will invest in publicly-traded equity securities, including common stock, preferred stock and depositary receipts, of companies of all market capitalizations. The fund may invest up to 70% of its assets in the equity securities of non-U.S. issuers, including companies that conduct their principal business activities in emerging markets or whose securities are traded principally on exchanges in emerging markets.

About Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A (WRAAX)

There are 4 members of the management team with an average tenure of 9.69 years: Gregg Thomas (2017), Matthew Glaser (2017), Jordan Strauss (2015), Thomas Simon (2018). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: MSCI ACWI NR USD index with a weighting of 100% and HFRX Equity Hedge USD index with a weighting of 100%. Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A has 816 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 18.6% 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.

Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A is part of the Equity global asset class and is within the Nontraditional Equity fund group. Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A has 52.3% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 42.8%. There is 52.3% 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). Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A has 4.9% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $249 million in total assets, which is below the $433 million average for the Equity Hedged 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.

WRAAX 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 Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A expense ratio is high compared to funds in the Equity Hedged category. Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A has an expense ratio of 1.50%, which is 8% 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. Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A has a portfolio turnover rate of 66%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.0 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 71% for the Equity Hedged category.

Recently, in the month of August 2026, Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A returned 0.8%, which earned it a grade of F, as the Equity Hedged category had an average return of 1.4%. 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.

Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A has a trailing yield of 0.11%, which is below the 0.95% 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.

Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 5.0%, 1.9 percentage points worse than the category, which translates into a grade of D. The fund has returned 6.6% over the past year (grade of F), 8.2% over the past three years (grade of D) and 5.1% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 5.2% per year over the past 10 years (grade of D).

For more mutual fund grades, analysis and screening tools to help your investment discovery, join AAII for a $2, full-access trial. Learn more here: https://invest.aaii.com/membership.

Otherwise, for more information about Wilmington Global Alpha Equities A, including its riskiness, submit your email to unlock the rest of the article.