Other amendments saw the Franklin Mutual Beacon fund and JPMorgan’s US equity fund downgraded following changes introduced by their respective managers.
Morningstar warned investors should “be cautious” after the Franklin team sold out their non-US firm positions and topped up its existing investments in the US.
Analyst Francesco Paganelli dropped the fund from a bronze rating to neutral and said: “The decision led to a significant reduction in the number of holdings relative to its historical norm.
“We think this change might have meaningful implications in terms of risk/reward profile, leading to a relatively more unpredictable pattern.”
The JP Morgan fund, which invests in US equities, was downgraded from silver to neutral as it had “struggled to keep up with the index over the short, medium and long term”.
Analyst Fatima Khizou added: “In our view, this is unlikely to change. We believe there are more compelling offerings in the US equity space.”
