JPMorgan Tax Free Bond Fund earns an Above Average Process Pillar rating.
The predominant contributor to the rating is the parent firm's five-year risk-adjusted success ratio of 56%. The measure indicates the percentage of a firm's funds that survived and beat their respective category's median Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return for the period. The parent firm's superior risk-adjusted performance, as shown by its average 10-year Morningstar Rating of 3.3 stars, also influences the rating.
Compared with other funds in the Muni National Long Morningstar Category, this fund has been consistently sensitive to interest-rate changes over the past few years. Opening the analysis to additional factors, the portfolio has displayed biases over time, whether towards or away from certain fixed-income instruments. Compared with the category average, the managers have been underweight A rated bonds in recent years. In the latest month, the strategy has also relatively underweighted A rated bonds compared with Morningstar Category peers. Additionally, the managers have exhibited a notable sector bias towards cash over the past few years. Compared with category peers, the strategy had more exposure to cash in the most recent month. Finally, during the past few years, the fund leaned towards debt with 15- to 20-year maturities. In this month, the strategy also leaned more towards debt with 15- to 20-year maturities compared with its peers.
This strategy's 12-month yield is 3.7%, higher than its average peer's 3.3%. In addition, it has a 3.6% 30-day SEC yield (a standardized, point-in-time estimate of the fund’s future income return). Higher yields tend to indicate higher credit risk. But that isn't always the case. Over the past 12 months, the average yield of the fund has been higher than the average yield of its Morningstar Category peers. The portfolio's average surveyed credit quality is on par with peers, with both the fund and the average being rated A.