Skip Navigation

North Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund

Mutual Funds

North Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund


Fund Managers

Photo of Robert  Millikan

Robert Millikan, CFA®

Photo of Michael  McVicker

Michael McVicker

Overview

A
Shares

BNCAX

Inception
Date

10.16.1992

Investment
Min.

$1,000

Subsequent
Investment Min.1

N/A

Max. Up Front
Sales Charge

2%

Max. Deferred
Sales Charge

N/A

1If subsequent investments are made as part of an AIP, the minimum is $25.

Philosophy & Process

The Fund seeks current income exempt from federal and North Carolina income taxes consistent with preservation of capital.

In managing the Fund, the team specializes in actively building and managing a high credit quality fixed income portfolio focused on the intermediate segment of the yield curve offering. The team employs a top-down investment process that focuses on: duration management, yield curve strategy and finding the best relative value with limited amount of risk in order to maximize the risk-adjusted total return.

Buy Strategy: We buy high quality, liquid issues and seek the best relative sector and security values available. We attempt to maximize total return and current income while reducing price volatility.

Sell Strategy: We will consider selling a security we own in order to reposition the Fund along the yield curve and adjust the Fund's average maturity or duration. In addition, we might replace a security with one that offers greater potential for total return or when its credit fundamentals are deteriorating.

Investment Considerations

The funds are subject to the same risks as the underlying bonds in the portfolios such as credit, prepayment and interest rate risk. As interest rates rise, the value of bond prices will decline and an investor may lose money. The funds are non-diversified and may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a single issuer than funds that are more diversified. Furthermore, the funds invest primarily in state-specific municipal obligations of issuers and therefore will be affected by economic, political or other events affecting municipal issuers.

Fund Facts

Term Class A Shares Class C Shares Class I Shares
Ticker BNCAXBBNCXBBNTX
Inception Date 10.16.199202.01.201210.16.1992
Investment Min. $1,000$1,000$1,000,000
Subsequent Investment Min.2 N/AN/AN/A
Max. Up Front Sales Charge 2%N/AN/A
Max. Deferred Sales Charge N/A1%N/A

2If subsequent investments are made as part of an AIP, the minimum is $25.

North Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund

Management

View professional designations disclosures

Photo of Robert  Millikan

Robert Millikan, CFA®

Co-Portfolio Manager

Photo of Michael  McVicker

Michael McVicker

Co-Portfolio Manager

Performance

Fund Performance as of 12.31.2023

Term QTR YTD 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years Since Inception
A Shares with 2.00% Sales Charge 3.90% 1.51% 1.51% -1.74% 0.87% 1.46% 3.24%
A Shares without Sales Charge 6.03% 3.61% 3.61% -1.07% 1.27% 1.66% 3.31%
Institutional Shares 6.09% 3.87% 3.87% -0.82% 1.53% 1.92% 3.52%
Lipper Other States Intermediate Municipal Median 5.67% 4.12% 4.12% -0.84% 1.46% 1.98% N/A

The total expense ratios for Class A, C and I Shares are 0.80%, 1.55% and 0.55%, respectively.

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The performance data quoted represents past performance and current returns may be lower or higher. The investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. To obtain performance information current to the most recent month end, please visit the performance summary.

The performance of the North Carolina Intermediate Tax-Free Fund reflects the deduction of fees for value-added services associated with a mutual fund, such as investment management and fund accounting fees. The inception date for Class A Shares is 10.16.1992. The inception date for Class C Shares is 02.01.2012. The inception date for Class Inst'l Shares is 10.16.1992. Performance reflects 12b-1 fees and applicable expenses.  Performance for Class C Shares for periods prior to inception is based on the performance of Class A Shares of the Fund.  The performance shown reflects the reinvestment of all dividend and capital gains distributions.

Characteristics

Quality Breakdown as of 12.31.2023

Credit quality ratings using Moody's rating symbols reflect the credit quality of the underlying bonds in the fund portfolio and not of the Fund itself. Moody's assigns a range of ratings from AAA being the highest quality to C being the lowest rated class of bonds. Securities not rated by Moody's may be rated by S&P, Fitch or if no agency rating is available, the Fund will assign a rating of not rated. Bond quality ratings are subject to change.

Effective Duration Breakdown as of 12.31.2023

Name Value
0-1 Yr. 11.0
1-2 Yr. 6.0
2-3 Yr. 13.0
3-5 Yr. 16.0
5-10 Yr. 47.0
10+ Yr. 4.0

Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to change and risk. Based on Market Value of securities.

Summary Statistics as of 12.31.2023

Name Value
Number of Holdings 81
Average Life 6.87 Years
Effective Duration 4.89 Years
Annual Turnover 32%

Portfolio Composition as of 12.31.2023

Composition Fund Index
General Obligation 30.0% 27.3%
Pre-Refunded 2.2% 3.5%
Revenue 66.8% 69.2%
[Cash] 1.0% 0.0%

Top Ten Holdings as of 12.31.2023

# Company Name Value
1 Raleigh NC Comb Enterprise Sys Rev 5.0% 01-Sep-2048 2.71%
2 NC St Grant Antic Rev 4.0% 01-Mar-2034 2.58%
3 NC St Ltd Oblig 5.0% 01-May-2030 2.57%
4 Charlotte NC Wtr & Swr Sys Rev 5.0% 01-Jul-2039 2.46%
5 NC St Ltd Oblig 5.0% 01-May-2031 2.24%
6 Concord NC 5.0% 01-Sep-2034 2.05%
7 Raleigh NC 5.0% 01-Apr-2040 2.03%
8 Charlotte NC Ctfs Partn 5.0% 01-Dec-2033 1.99%
9 Raleigh NC 5.0% 01-Apr-2035 1.93%
10 Wilmington NC 5.0% 01-May-2031 1.93%

Current and future portfolio holdings are subject to change and risk. Based on Market Value of securities.

Growth of $10,000 as of 12.31.2023

The Growth of $10,000 is hypothetical based upon the performance of net A Shares at NAV for the period ended 12.31.2023. It includes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains.

Distribution

Monthly Dividend Distribution as of 02.29.2024

Month Class A Shares Class C Shares Class Inst'l Shares
February 2024 $0.0185 $0.0124 $0.0205
January 2024 $0.0195 $0.0129 $0.0216
December 2023 $0.0192 $0.0127 $0.0213
November 2023 $0.0182 $0.0121 $0.0203
October 2023 $0.0187 $0.0125 $0.0208
September 2023 $0.0176 $0.0115 $0.0196
August 2023 $0.0179 $0.0115 $0.0200
July 2023 $0.0177 $0.0113 $0.0199
June 2023 $0.0172 $0.0110 $0.0193
May 2023 $0.0173 $0.0108 $0.0194
April 2023 $0.0167 $0.0104 $0.0189
March 2023 $0.0171 $0.0106 $0.0192

30-Day SEC Yield as of 02.29.2024

Share Class Value
Class A 2.76%
Class C 2.07%
Class I 3.06%

Fixed Income Funds

Insights

03.05.2024 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "Advantaged Market Share"

- What makes an advantaged company? - In our view, one notable characteristic of an advantaged company is growing its market share. - Simply put, we believe companies with greater market share are more profitable. - We seek to field a portfolio of advantaged companies with strong and potentially growing market shares to position our clients to win.

03.01.2024

4Q23 Equity Income SMA Review and Outlook

The 4Q23 Equity Income SMA Review and Outlook reviews performance, holdings, and dividend growth within the strategy.

preview of document

03.01.2024 • Shane Burke

The Federal Reserve During an Election Year - March 2024

2024 is expected to be one of the biggest election years in history, with more than 60 countries representing approximately half of the world’s population heading to the polls. The year will include multi-day legislative elections in India (the largest population in the world), Indonesia’s presidential election (the world’s largest single-day vote), and the globally-anticipated U.S. presidential election.

02.06.2024 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "Actively Aware"

- By utilizing our investment process and our investment team, we believe we can build portfolios different from the benchmark and provide an opportunity to generate returns above the benchmark over time. - Ironically, many passive indexes make active bets themselves. In 2023, the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats suffered its worst performance relative to the S&P 500® Index since 1999. - We’ve believed for over 20 years that portfolio managers with material amounts of their net worth invested alongside clients incentivizes portfolio diversification and active adjustments, rather than a static index where there is no vested interest. Our mission is to generate above-average returns with below-average risk over time.

preview of document

02.02.2024

Sterling Capital Management LLC to be acquired by Guardian Capital Group Limited

We are delighted to announce that Guardian Capital Group Limited has reached an agreement under which Guardian’s wholly-owned subsidiary Guardian Capital LLC will acquire Sterling Capital from Truist. Post-closing, Sterling Capital will become an independently-operated subsidiary of Guardian.

01.22.2024 • Whitney Stewart, CFA®

Are the S&P 493 and Small Caps Well-Positioned for Attractive Performance?

During the calendar year of 2023, the “Magnificent Seven” (M7) of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla rallied 111% on average, outperforming the S&P 500® Equal Weight Index (+14% total return for 2024) by 97%, leading to an all-time high concentration for the seven largest stocks in the S&P 500® Index. Based on the factors below, some investors believe the rest of the S&P 493 and small-cap stocks are positioned for attractive returns in 2024 and beyond.

Contact

Learn more about Sterling Capital solutions and services.

Scroll Up