ZTR - Virtus Total Return Fund

What this means for you

Saba has told the regulator it may push for changes at this fund. That usually means asking the fund to buy back shares at close to the full value of its holdings, to change who runs it, or to close down and pay holders out.

Nothing is required of you now. If the fund itself announces a buy-back or a vote, it appears in the box above with the date by which you would need to act.

Large investors can also sell down and walk away. We show every notice they file, the day it is filed.

Email me if this changes

What happened, and when

In the fund's last buy-back (results filed Dec 8, 2025), holders offered 26.9% of all shares and the fund bought about 37 of every 100 shares offered, so holders who took part got only part of what they offered. Results of the last buy-back →

1. Sept 30, 2026

   Saba now owns 5%. It has said it may push for changes.

   Original document →

2. Dec 8, 2025

   The buy-back ended; holders offered 26.9% of all shares and the fund paid $6.9874 a share.

   Original document →

3. Dec 4, 2025

   The buy-back ended; the fund bought back 10% of its shares and paid $6.9874 a share.

   Original document →

4. Nov 4, 2025

   The fund added to its buy-back offer documents; it still runs until Dec 3, 2025.

   Original document →

5. Nov 3, 2025

   The fund offered to buy back 10% of its shares at 98% of value, until Dec 3, 2025.

   Original document →

About this fund

• Run by Virtus Investment Advisers, LLC. Part of the Virtus fund family. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• Size: about $370 million of holdings, as of Aug 31, 2026. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Borrowing: the fund borrows about 30% on top of its own money, as of Aug 31, 2026. Borrowed money makes gains and losses bigger. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Costs: 1% a year in management fees; 3.7% a year in total, including interest on borrowed money. Fiscal year ended Nov 30, 2025. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
  Among the 53 funds we follow that invest in shares, 22 charge a lower management fee and 50 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 Nov 30, 2025) the fund paid $0.96 a share. $0.49 of that was income; $0.47 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 Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Value of holdings per share at the last fiscal year end (Nov 30, 2025): $7.23. The shares traded at $6.62, about 8.4% below that. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's yearly report. Original document →
• How the holdings did: up 0.1% over the last three months we have (June-Aug 2026), before the share price is taken into account. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• First reported to the regulator in 1995.

How this has changed

• Payouts per share: $0.96 in the fiscal year ended Nov 30, 2025; $0.96 in the year ended Nov 30, 2024; $0.96 in the year ended Nov 30, 2023.As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Of that, your own money back rather than income: $0.47 in the year ended Nov 30, 2025; $0.51 in the year ended Nov 30, 2024; $0.55 in the year ended Nov 30, 2023.As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Costs, including interest on borrowed money: 3.98% a year in the fiscal year ended Nov 30, 2025; 4.48% a year in the year ended Nov 30, 2024; 4.46% a year in the year ended Nov 30, 2023.As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Size of the holdings: about $402 million at Nov 28, 2025; $432 million at Nov 29, 2024; $429 million at Nov 30, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Nov 28, 2025 →, Nov 29, 2024 →, Nov 30, 2023 →.
• Borrowing: about 29% on top of its own money at Nov 28, 2025; 29% at Nov 29, 2024; 31% at Nov 30, 2023. From the fund's quarterly holdings reports. Original documents: Nov 28, 2025 →, Nov 29, 2024 →, Nov 30, 2023 →.

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

What a holder made

• The year ended Nov 30, 2025: the shares returned +10%, counting payouts; the holdings +10%. The holdings figure is what the fund's investments earned, before the share price is taken into account. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2024: the shares returned +24.1%, counting payouts; the holdings +13.9%. As of Nov 30, 2024, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2023: the shares returned +2.7%, counting payouts; the holdings +7.2%. As of Nov 30, 2023, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2022: the shares returned -21.8%, counting payouts; the holdings -14.7%. As of Nov 30, 2022, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The year ended Nov 30, 2021: the shares returned +8.2%, counting payouts; the holdings +1.8%. As of Nov 30, 2021, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• Those five years together: the shares returned +18.6%. $10,000 of shares bought at the start (Dec 1, 2020) would have become about $11,900 by Nov 30, 2025, with every payout counted, before tax. As of Nov 30, 2025, from the fund's annual report. Original document →
• The holdings over the last twelve months we have, to Aug 31, 2026: +15.5%. The quarterly reports carry no share price, so this is the holdings alone. As of Aug 31, 2026, from the fund's quarterly holdings report. Original document →
• Of the 45 funds that invest in shares with a fiscal year ending within six months of this one, 38 reported a higher share return for that year and 6 a lower one. As of Nov 30, 2025, 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 shares (73%), the rest bonds, asset-backed bonds and mortgage bonds. About 61% issued in the U.S.

1. Aena Sme SA Eur10 - 6.8%
2. Union Pacific - 6%
3. Nextera Energy - 5.1%
4. Csx - 3.8%
5. Williams Companies - 3.7%
6. Canadian Pacific Kansas City - 3.6%
7. Southern Company - 3.2%
8. Targa Resources - 2.9%
9. Xcel Energy - 2.9%
10. Sempra - 2.7%

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