The Fund invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of investment-grade bonds and notes of any maturity. The Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus borrowings for investment purposes, in investment-grade fixed income securities including corporate, asset-backed, mortgage-backed, and U.S. Government securities. The Adviser attempts to manage the Fund’s “total return” (which includes both changes in principal value of the Fund’s securities and income earned) by lengthening or shortening the average maturity of the Fund’s securities according to whether the Adviser expects market interest rates to rise or decline. The Fund may also engage in futures and options transactions, both to seek to increase return and/or to seek to hedge, or protect, its exposure to, for example, interest rate movements, movements in the commodities or securities markets and currency value fluctuations. In addition, the Fund may invest in exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), convertible securities, municipal securities, and inflation-protected securities such as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (“TIPS”) and similar bonds issued by governments outside of the United States. Fixed income securities held by the Fund may be of any maturity.

The bar chart and the performance table shown below provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in its performance from year to year and by comparing the Fund’s performance to the ICE BofA U.S. Broad Market Index and the ICE BofA 1-10 Year AAA-A US Corporate & Government Index. The ICE BofA U.S. Broad Market Index serves as the Fund’s regulatorily-required broad-based securities market index and provides a broad measure of market performance. The ICE BofA 1-10 Year AAA-A US Corporate & Government Index is the Fund’s additional index and is generally more representative of the Fund’s investment universe than the regulatory index. For additional information about the indexes, please see the section entitled “Index Descriptions.”

Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily predict future performance. Fund performance shown below reflects fees, waivers and/or expense reimbursements during such period and reinvestment of distributions, if any. Without waivers/reimbursements, performance would have been lower.

During the periods shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 5.02% (quarter ended 12/31/2023) and the lowest return for a quarter was (4.27)% (quarter ended 3/31/2022).

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rate, and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on the investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to shareholders who hold Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or Individual Retirement Accounts. The Fund Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Shares may be higher than other return figures when a capital loss occurs upon the redemption of Fund shares.

Fixed Income Securities Risk—Fixed income securities are subject to a number of risks, including interest rate risk, credit risk, and the risks associated with a lack of liquidity in the fixed income market. In addition, the value of and income generated by fixed income securities is subject to volatility and losses resulting from changes or perceived changes in economic conditions, particularly during times of unusual or adverse market or political events. Certain types of fixed income securities may be more sensitive to such conditions. For example, in addition to other risks generally associated with fixed income securities, corporate debt obligations are particularly subject to factors directly related to the issuer, such as the credit rating of the corporation, the corporation’s performance and perceptions of the corporation in the marketplace. Adverse changes in any of these factors may result in a decline in value of or income generated by such obligations.

Exchange-Traded Funds Risk—Exchange-traded funds or ETFs are subject to many of the same risks associated with individual debt instruments or other investments, including market risk where the market as a whole, or the specific sector in which an ETF invests, may decline. ETFs may trade at a premium or discount to the aggregate value of the underlying securities. A shareholder will be charged fees and expenses not only on Fund shares held directly but also indirectly on the ETF shares that a Fund purchases and the Fund’s investment in an ETF will subject the Fund to the risks of the ETF.

Liquidity Risk—Liquidity risk means the risk that the Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares without significant dilution of remaining shareholders’ interests. Liquidity risk may also include the risk that it may be difficult or impossible to sell certain positions within an acceptable timeframe or at an acceptable price to meet the Fund’s redemption or other obligations.

Inflation-Protected Securities Risk—The value of an inflation-protected debt security generally will fall when real interest rates rise.

Prepayments and Extensions—The Fund is subject to prepayment risks because the principal on mortgage-backed securities, other asset-backed securities, or any debt instrument with an embedded call option may be prepaid at any time, which could reduce the security’s yield and market value. The rate of prepayments tends to increase as interest rates fall, which could cause the average maturity of the portfolio to shorten. Extension risk may result from a rise in interest rates, which tends to make mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, and other callable debt instruments more volatile.

Convertible Securities Risk—Convertible securities are subject to interest rate risk, the risk that the issuer will not be able to pay interest or dividend when due or at all, the risk that their market value may change based on changes to the issuer’s credit ratings or the market’s perception of the issuer’s creditworthiness, and the risk that their value may not increase as rapidly as the underlying common stock. Convertible bonds are subject to the risks of equity securities when the underlying stock price is high relative to the conversion price (because more of the security’s value resides in the conversion feature) and debt instruments when the underlying stock price is low relative to the conversion price (because the conversion feature is less valuable). A convertible bond is not as sensitive to interest rate changes as a similar non-convertible debt instrument.

Derivatives Risk—Derivatives are subject to a number of risks, including changes in the market price of the underlying securities, credit risk with respect to the counterparty to the derivative instruments and the risk of loss due to changes in interest rates. The use of certain derivatives may also have a leveraging effect, which may increase the Fund’s sensitivity to adverse market movements and may exaggerate a loss. Losses may arise as the value of the contract decreases due to, among other potentially adverse events, an unfavorable change in the price of the underlying security or commodity or if the counterparty does not perform under the contract. The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of relatively small adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying security, asset, index or reference rate, which may be magnified by or potentially unlimited as a result of certain features of the derivatives.