NPFD - Nuveen Variable Rate Preferred & Income Fund

What this means for you

Sit Investment is known for pushing closed-end funds to narrow the gap between price and value. For now it has told the regulator it is not seeking changes. 2 other large investors own more than 5% of this fund and have said the same; that is common for banks, brokers and index funds that hold shares for their clients.

Nothing is required of you. If an investor changes its mind, it must file a new notice within days, and it will show up here.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

1. April 30, 2026

   First Trust Portfolios L.P. now owns 7.8%, as a passive investor.

   Original document →

2. Aug 5, 2025

   Morgan Stanley raised its stake to 6.5% (from 2.5%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

3. March 4, 2025

   Sit Investment raised its stake to 10.5% (from 5.4%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

4. Feb 4, 2025

   Morgan Stanley sold down below 5% and stopped reporting.

   Original document →

5. Feb 4, 2025

   Morgan Stanley cut its stake to 5% (from 5.8%), as a passive investor.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC. Part of the Nuveen fund family. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $468 million of holdings, as of July 31, 2026. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 35% on top of its own money, as of July 31, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. About 34% of that is money the fund has borrowed by selling preferred shares. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Costs: 0.9% a year in management fees; 4.2% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended July 31, 2026. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 14 funds we follow that invest in preferred shares, 5 charge a lower management fee and 9 charge less in total, at their last yearly reports. Both numbers are measured against the fund's own money, not the money it borrows on top, so a fund that borrows more shows higher costs on both counts.
• Payouts: last fiscal year (ended July 31, 2026) the fund paid $1.92 a share. $1.24 of that was income; $0.68 was your own money back, not income. Most funds announce their monthly or quarterly payout on their own website, not in a filing with the regulator, so a cut or a raise there does not show up here until the next yearly report. A few funds do file a notice about a fixed payout; those appear under What happened, and when. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (July 31, 2026): $19.39. The shares traded at $18.16, about 6.3% below that. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: up 0.4% over the last three months we have (May-July 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 2021.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $1.92 in the fiscal year ended July 31, 2026; $2.01 in the year ended July 31, 2025; $1.35 in the year ended July 31, 2024.As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Of that, your own money back rather than income: $0.68 in the year ended July 31, 2026; $1.09 in the year ended July 31, 2025; $0.20 in the year ended July 31, 2024.As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 4.2% a year in the fiscal year ended July 31, 2026; 4.79% a year in the year ended July 31, 2025; 5.21% a year in the year ended July 31, 2024.As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $468 million at July 31, 2026; $485 million at July 31, 2025; $486 million at July 31, 2024. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: July 31, 2026 →, July 31, 2025 →, July 31, 2024 →.
• Borrowing: about 35% on top of its own money at July 31, 2026; 34% at July 31, 2025; 35% at July 31, 2024. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: July 31, 2026 →, July 31, 2025 →, July 31, 2024 →.
• The fund had about 24.2 million shares at July 31, 2026, about the same as at July 31, 2024.As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →

What these lines mean: a payout that is your own money back, what a fund costs, borrowing.

What a holder made

• The year ended July 31, 2026: the shares returned +3.1%, counting payouts. The holdings figure is what the fund's investments earned, before the share price is taken into account. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended July 31, 2025: the shares returned +15%, counting payouts; the holdings +10.1%. As of July 31, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended July 31, 2024: the shares returned +24%, counting payouts; the holdings +14.9%. As of July 31, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended July 31, 2023: the shares returned -11.7%, counting payouts; the holdings -4.8%. As of July 31, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended July 31, 2022: the shares returned -16.8%, counting payouts; the holdings -12.5%. As of July 31, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned +8.1%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Aug 1, 2021) would have become about $10,800 by July 31, 2026, with every payout counted, before tax. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to July 31, 2026: +6.5%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 5 funds that invest in preferred shares with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 4 reported a higher share return for that year and 0 a lower one. As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• A past year says nothing about the next one. All figures are the fund's own, from its reports to the regulator.

Why the shares and the holdings can differ: the gap between price and value. Why payouts count: a payout that is your own money back.

What the fund holds

Mostly bonds (92%), the rest preferred shares. About 64% issued in the U.S.

1. JPMorgan Chase & - 7.4%
2. Wells Fargo & Company - 4.5%
3. Bank of America - 3.9%
4. Enbridge - 3.6%
5. Citigroup - 2.9%
6. Sbl Holdings - 2.7%
7. Goldman Sachs Group Inc/The - 2.4%
8. Truist Financial - 2.4%
9. General Motors Financial - 2.2%
10. Vodafone Group PLC - 2.2%

As of July 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →