Morningstar analysts are doing some spring cleaning. The fund research company just upgraded seven funds, downgraded four funds and gave new ratings to 29 mutual funds and 33 exchange-traded funds in March, while placing one fund under review.
In addition, analysts affirmed ratings for 80 funds and three target-date series.
Its Morningstar Analyst Ratings represent analysts' views that a fund can outperform its peers on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. The five-tiered, qualitative scale has three positive levels — Gold, Silver and Bronze — as well as neutral and negative ratings.
Overall, 135 funds have a rating of Gold, 313 are Silver, 507 are Bronze, 423 are Neutral, and an unlucky 13 are Negative.
In February, the company upgraded two U.S. funds and one target-date series. It also downgraded ratings for nine funds, affirmed ratings for 65 funds and 10 target-date series, assigned 16 new fund ratings, and placed one fund under review.