Fund Times: Vanguard Boosts Stock Weighting in Target Retirement Funds

Vanguard announced changes to its Target Retirement funds that will bring its allocations closer to those of most other fund companies. Vanguard's funds stood out in the target-date crowd because they had significantly higher bond stakes than other funds did, so it's not a big surprise to see it cranking up equity exposure.

For example Vanguard Target Retirement Income (VTINX) will shift 10% of assets from bond funds into stock funds. After the changes, the fund will have about 70% of assets in fixed income.  Vanguard Target Retirement 2015  will move nearly 20% out of bonds with nearly all of that moving into  Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTSMX). Thus, the mix will go from slightly over half in bonds to one third in bonds.  Vanguard Inflation-Protected Bond Fund (VIPSX) will be eliminated from the 2015 plan. The new mix will still be more conservative than T. Rowe Price's, which has 70% of its 2015 fund in equities.

Vanguard also launched five new Target Retirement funds for the following retirement dates: 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050.

American Century Hires New CIO for Foreign Funds
American Century Monday said it hired Enrique Chang, 43, as senior vice president and chief investment officer of international equity. Chang had been at Munder Capital Management, where he served as president and chief investment officer. In his new role, Chang assumes leadership over the investment professionals and supporting staff responsible for $7.8 billion in assets under management.

Small-Value Fund Reopens
Van Kampen Small Cap Value (VSCAX) reopened to new investors on March 10, 2006. The $312 million fund has suffered from subpar performance over the trailing three- and five-year periods.

Room for More on the Bandwagon
Dreyfus has filed to launch a new emerging-markets fund. Dreyfus has a name for the fund--Dreyfus Premier Global Emerging Markets--but it didn't say who would manage it.

Artisan Value Fund Debuts Next Week
A new filing reveals that Artisan Opportunistic Value is expected to launch on March 27, 2006. The filing says the fund will have an expense ratio of 1.48%. As we reported in January, the fund will be run by Scott Satterwhite, Jim Kieffer, and George Sertl, the first two of whom comanage Artisan Mid Cap Value (ARTQX) and Artisan Small Cap Value .

BNY Hamilton Names New Managers
 BNY Hamilton Small Cap Growth  named Arthur Weise as new manager replacing John Lui. Weise had worked at Trainer Wortham & Co., where he was director of research and the consumer/services analyst.

BNY Hamilton International Equity  named Todd Rose as comanager replacing Robert Windsor. Lloyd Buchanan, who has been a comanager since 2003, remains at the fund.