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Equity Income Fund

Mutual Funds

Equity Income Fund


Fund Managers

Photo of Charles  Wittmann

Charles Wittmann, CFA®

Photo of Jeremy  Lopez

Jeremy Lopez, CFA®

Overview

R6
Shares

STREX

Inception
Date

02.01.2018

Investment
Min.

N/A

Subsequent
Investment Min.1

N/A

Max. Up Front
Sales Charge

N/A

Max. Deferred
Sales Charge

N/A

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

Proud Winner of a 2022 Lipper Fund Award

The Equity Income Fund R6 Share Class (ticker: STREX) won in the three-year performance category, from a peer group of 390 equity income funds. Lipper Fund Awards are presented to one fund in each Lipper classification for achieving the strongest trend of consistent risk-adjusted performance against its classification peers over a three-, five- or ten-year period. This year’s awards were based on performance for the three respective time periods ended November 30, 2022.

Philosophy & Process

The fund’s management team utilizes fundamental analysis to construct a portfolio of high-quality, dividend growth equities. They look for the best ideas that include companies with strong balance sheets that are reasonably valued and have shown market/sales gain over time with a credible plan to continue such growth in the future. The fund represents a concentrated portfolio utilizing "best ideas" with the typical number of core holdings between 30 and 35. Dividends matter to the management team and they only purchase companies that have raised their dividends for the last three consecutive years or for six years of the last ten. They target stocks with dividend yields greater than the yield of the S&P 500® Index.

Investment Considerations

The fund invests primarily in dividend-paying securities but also in convertible securities in search of yield. These securities may be undervalued not performing as anticipated and its value could be negatively affected by a rise in interest rates. The fund may engage in writing covered call options. By selling covered call options, the fund limits its opportunity to profit from an increase in the price of the underlying stock above the exercise price, but continues to bear the risk of a decline in the stock. While the fund receives premiums for writing the call options, the price it realizes from the exercise of an option could be substantially below a stock’s current market price.

Fund Facts

Term Class A Shares Class C Shares Class I Shares Class R6 Shares
Ticker BAEIXBCEGXBEGIXSTREX
Inception Date 06.30.200406.30.200406.30.200402.01.2018
Investment Min. $1,000$1,000$1,000,000N/A
Subsequent Investment Min.2 N/AN/AN/AN/A
Max. Up Front Sales Charge 5.75%N/AN/AN/A
Max. Deferred Sales Charge N/A1%N/AN/A

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

Equity Income Fund

Management

View professional designations disclosures

Photo of Charles  Wittmann

Charles Wittmann, CFA®

Co-Portfolio Manager

Photo of Jeremy  Lopez

Jeremy Lopez, CFA®

Co-Portfolio Manager

Performance

Fund Performance as of 03.31.2023

Term QTR YTD 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years Since Inception
A Shares with 5.75% Sales Charge -6.06% -6.06% -8.06% 18.92% 9.96% 9.29% 9.75%
A Shares without Sales Charge -0.31% -0.31% -2.46% 21.29% 11.27% 9.94% 10.10%
Institutional Shares -0.26% -0.26% -2.24% 21.59% 11.55% 10.22% 10.37%
Lipper Equity Income Median 0.65% 0.65% -4.88% 17.13% 8.18% 8.99% N/A

The total expense ratios for Class A, C and I Shares are 1.04%, 1.79% and 0.79%, respectively. The gross expense ratio for Class R6 Shares is 0.79%. The net expense ratio for Class R6 Shares is 0.69%.

The Fund Administrator, Sterling Capital Management LLC, has contractually agreed to waive its administrative fees, pay Fund operating expenses, and/or reimburse the Fund .10% of the Class R6 average daily net assets for the period February 1, 2021 through January 31, 2022. Performance would have been lower without limitations in effect.

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 Equity Income 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 06.30.2004. The inception date for Class C Shares is 06.30.2004. The inception date for Class Inst'l Shares is 06.30.2004. The inception date for Class R6 Shares is 02.01.2018. The performance shown reflects the reinvestment of all dividend and capital gains distributions.

Characteristics

Top Ten Holdings as of 03.31.2023

# Company Name Value
1 Analog Devices, Inc. 4.63%
2 Microsoft Corp. 4.56%
3 Motorola Solutions, Inc. 3.93%
4 Avery Dennison Corp. 3.93%
5 Anthem, Inc. 3.86%
6 Cisco Systems, Inc. 3.81%
7 Merck & Co., Inc. 3.79%
8 Abbvie, Inc. 3.78%
9 Ferguson Plc 3.71%
10 Abbott Laboratories 3.71%

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

Sector Allocation as of 03.31.2023

Sector Allocation as of 03.31.2023

Name Value
Financials 23.15%
Info Technology 22.79%
Health Care 20.34%
Industrials 9.44%
Consumer Dis 7.36%
Materials 6.22%
Consumer Staples 5.93%
Real Estate 3.20%
Cash 1.56%
Energy 0.00%
Utilities 0.00%
Comm Services 0.00%

Allocations are based on the current weight to funds in the cited Sector. The composition of the fund's holdings is subject to change.

Growth of $10,000 as of 03.31.2023

The Growth of $10,000 is hypothetical based upon the performance of net A Shares at NAV for the period ended 03.31.2023. It includes the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains.

Lipper Equity Income Category Based on Total Return as of 12.31.2022

Term 1 Year 3 Years 5 Years 10 Years
Lipper Ranking / Number of Funds in Category 119 / 466 10 / 442 4 / 420 45 / 279
Lipper Quartile (Percentile) 2nd (26%) 1st (3%) 1st (1%) 1st (17%)

Statistics

Risk/Return Statistics vs. Russell 1000® Value Index 3 as of 03.31.2023

Term Value
Alpha 1.43
Beta 0.92
R-Squared 92.54
Standard Deviation 14.34
Sharpe Ratio 0.64

3The Funds composition is subject to change. Annual Turnover Ratio is 12 month rolling calculation. Alpha, Beta, R-Squared, Standard Deviation, and Sharpe Ratio are based on a 10-year calculation.

View a Glossary of Terms.

Summary Statistics as of 03.31.2023

Term Value
Weighted Median P/E 23.01
Weighted Average P/B 3.99
Weighted Average Market Cap $215.19B
Annual Turnover 47%

Equity Funds

Insights

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Our view on the current market environment in light of the upcoming debt ceiling deadline.

05.05.2023 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "Perspective on Quality and Dividend Growth"

- In our study, we took a closer look at the characteristics that we believe were additive to performance for the trailing time periods ended December 31, 2022. - BofA Global Research provided data for the performance of ROE over these timeframes, and it performed well relative to the Russell 1000 Value. - We believe dividend growth was additive to our Equity Income strategy over the time periods studied, which is consistent with the data from Ned Davis Research. - As an investment team, we seek to accentuate the benefits of our investment process to deliver positive outcomes for clients.

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05.04.2023 • Andrew Richman, CTFA

Fed Raises 25 Basis Points But Sets the Table for a Possible Pause

In a move widely anticipated by the markets, the Federal Reserve (Fed) raised rates an additional 25 basis points to arrange of 5.00% to 5.25%. This is the highest in over 15 years and a 5.0% move in a little over 13 months.

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04.27.2023

Press Release: Equity Personnel Updates

Today Sterling Capital announces the resignation of Joshua L. Haggerty, CFA®, Co-Portfolio Manager of the firm’s Special Opportunities strategy, effective immediately. Effective tomorrow, James L. Curtis, CFA® will be promoted to serve as Co-Portfolio Manager of the Special Opportunities strategy.

04.12.2023 • Charles Wittmann, CFA®

The Lead - "Equity Income Fund Wins Lipper Awards"

- In March, the Sterling Capital Equity Income Fund received two Refinitiv Lipper fund awards for the “Best Fund Over 3 Years” and the "Best Fund Over 5 Years” in the Equity Income Funds category. - First, we see the awards as confirmation that the investment team is managing its investments consistent with its stated mission. - Second, we recognize the winners are the clients who have been invested in Sterling Capital Equity Income over the past three and five years. - We are happy and excited that the true winners are our valued clients.

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03.24.2023

Sterling Capital Equity Income Fund receives two 2022 Lipper Fund Awards

Sterling Capital Management is delighted to announce that our flagship Equity Income Fund received two Lipper Awards in the March 23, 2023 award ceremony in New York. Co-portfolio managers Chip Wittmann, CFA® and Jeremy Lopez, CFA®, were in attendance to accept this prestigious honor. The Equity Income Fund R6 Share Class (ticker: STREX) won in the three-year performance category, from a peer group of 390 equity income funds. The Equity Income Fund Institutional Share Class (ticker: BAEIX) won in the five-year category, from a peer group of 374 equity income funds.

Contact

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