EARBX — MFS Total Return Bond Fund
Data updated: 2026-09-28
EARBX — MFS Total Return Bond Fund. Long Total / Aggregate Bond · $8.09B AUM · 0.65% expense ratio. Holdings, fees, performance and SEC filings.
EARBX Fund Overview
EARBX — MFS Total Return Bond Fund is a US mutual fund managed by Mfs Series Trust IX, categorised as Long Total / Aggregate Bond. ABC INVEST provides holdings, performance, costs, cashflows, risk data, prospectus documents and SEC filings, sourced from SEC filings.
- Type: US mutual fund
- Manager: Mfs Series Trust IX
- Category: Long Total / Aggregate Bond
- Assets under management: $8.09B
- 1-year return: -8.5%
- Ticker: EARBX
- SEC CIK: 0000063075
- SEC series ID: S000002497
- Share class ID: C000006762
EARBX Investment Objective and Strategy
MFS Total Return Bond Fund describes its objective and strategy as follows, from its latest prospectus filed with the SEC by Mfs Series Trust IX.
Investment objective
The funds investment objective is to seek total return with an emphasis on current income, but also considering capital appreciation.
Principal investment strategy
MFS (Massachusetts Financial Services Company, the funds investment adviser) normally invests at least 80% of the funds net assets in debt instruments. Debt instruments include corporate bonds, U.S. Government securities, foreign government securities, securitized instruments, municipal instruments and other obligations to repay money borrowed. MFS primarily invests the funds assets in investment grade quality debt instruments, but may also invest in below investment grade quality debt instruments. MFS may invest the funds assets in foreign securities. MFS normally invests the funds assets across different industries and sectors, but MFS may invest a significant percentage of the funds assets in issuers in a single industry or sector. While MFS may use derivatives for any investment purpose, to the extent MFS uses derivatives, MFS expects to use derivatives primarily to increase or decrease exposure to a particular market, segment of the market, or security, to increase or decrease interest rate or currency exposure, or as alternatives to direct investments.
Derivatives include futures, forward contracts, options, structured securities, and swaps. In conjunction with a team of investment research analysts, the portfolio managers select investments for the fund. MFS uses an active bottom-up investment approach to buying and selling investments for the fund. Investments are selected primarily based on fundamental analysis of individual instruments and their issuers. Quantitative models that systematically evaluate instruments may also be considered. In structuring the fund, MFS also considers top-down factors. For purposes of the funds 80% policy, net assets include the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.
EARBX Holdings
Top 10 holdings of MFS Total Return Bond Fund by percentage of net assets, from the fund's latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio | 2.17% |
| United States of America | 2.08% |
| United States of America | 2.06% |
| United States of America | 1.92% |
| United States of America | 1.23% |
| United States of America | 1.14% |
| United States of America | 1.14% |
| United States of America | 1.10% |
| FHLMC Pool | 1.05% |
| United States of America | 1.03% |
EARBX Portfolio Allocation
Asset-class allocation of MFS Total Return Bond Fund by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Asset class | Allocation |
|---|---|
| Fixed Income | 59.4% |
| Securitized | 39.1% |
| Cash & Equivalents | 2.2% |
EARBX Performance
Total returns for EARBX (as of 2026-10-01), from SEC filings.
| Period | Total return |
|---|---|
| 1 year | -8.5% |
| 3 years (annualised) | -0.3% |
EARBX Risk Information
Risk metrics for EARBX, derived from monthly returns in SEC filings.
- 1-year volatility (annualised): 5.2%
EARBX Costs and Fees
EARBX costs about $65 per $10,000 invested per year in fund expenses.
- Net expense ratio: 0.65%
- Gross expense ratio: 0.81%
- Portfolio turnover: 48%
- Brokerage commissions: 0.26 bps of average net assets (SEC N-CEN)
EARBX Cashflows
Over the 12 months to 2026-07, MFS Total Return Bond Fund had net inflows of $6.62M, from monthly SEC N-PORT filings.
| Month | Net flow |
|---|---|
| 2026-07 | $30.79M |
| 2026-06 | −$24.00M |
| 2026-05 | −$40.64M |
| 2026-04 | −$20.80M |
| 2026-03 | −$42.84M |
| 2026-02 | $48.79M |
EARBX Debt Constituents
Largest debt holdings of MFS Total Return Bond Fund by percentage of net assets, from the latest SEC N-PORT filing.
| Debt holding | % of net assets |
|---|---|
| United States of America | 2.08% |
| United States of America | 2.06% |
| United States of America | 1.92% |
| United States of America | 1.23% |
| United States of America | 1.14% |
| United States of America | 1.14% |
| United States of America | 1.10% |
| United States of America | 1.03% |
| United States of America | 0.87% |
| United States of America | 0.81% |
EARBX Prospectus and SEC Filings
Official MFS Total Return Bond Fund filings on SEC EDGAR — prospectus, portfolio holdings and annual reports.
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2026-08-27
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2025-08-27
- Prospectus (485BPOS) — filed 2024-08-27
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-09-28
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-06-29
- Portfolio holdings (N-PORT) — filed 2026-03-25
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2025-07-14
- Annual census (N-CEN) — filed 2024-07-10
Related Funds
Other Long Total / Aggregate Bond funds tracked on ABC INVEST:
Data Sources
ABC INVEST compiles this page from public filings made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through EDGAR: portfolio holdings and monthly cashflows from Form N-PORT, expenses and returns from fund prospectuses (Form 485BPOS) and the SEC DERA Risk/Return Summary data sets, annual data from Form N-CEN, and shareholder reports from Form N-CSR.