Why We Highly Rate JPMorgan Equity Income

Key Morningstar Metrics for JPMorgan Equity Income

• Morningstar Medalist Rating: Silver
• Process Pillar: High
• People Pillar: Above Average
• Parent Pillar: Above Average

JPMorgan Equity Income’s OIEIX recent total returns have been subpar, but it’s not a cause for concern. The fund features a prudent, proven approach and a seasoned team that knows it well.

JPMorgan Equity Income changed leaders in the fall of 2024 but remains in good hands. Longtime lead manager Clare Hart retired on Sept. 5, 2024, after a 20-year tenure applying her highly successful, sensible approach. Andrew Brandon and David Silberman were first her teammates and then her chosen successors. They’ve been portfolio managers here since 2019, and Brandon has been on this team since 2012. Both have decades of experience, mostly at J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

The comanagers have solid backing, starting with three dedicated analysts. Tony Lee and Lerone Vincent joined this value team in 2018 and 2022, respectively. In January 2024, the managers, including Hart, recruited Laura Huang from the firm’s central analyst team to cover financials here—Hart’s area of expertise. And this core team of five works with the central pool of 20 seasoned, high-caliber analysts.

The approach at JPMorgan Equity Income remains first-rate. The fund’s simple but potent philosophy contends that a well-diversified collection of robust, underappreciated businesses will tend to outperform over the long term. In its efficient large-value area, the team usually knows ownership candidates well but vets downtrodden companies’ earnings quality, historical allocation, and valuation to ensure a good fit. A decent dividend is a requirement to enter the portfolio as proof of financial discipline and continuity. This process is neither dazzling nor intricate: Sound judgment and continual discipline are what make the strategy effective.

JPMorgan Equity Income has underperformed the typical peer and Russell 1000 Value benchmark on the new skippers’ watch. The recent shortfall isn’t a significant concern; over its nearly 200 rolling five-year periods, while using its current process, JPMorgan Equity Income has topped the bogy and typical peer more than 80% of the time. It also has a sterling record of relatively buoyant behavior in bear markets.

Those seeking a deliberate, sensible value approach have a very good option here.

JPMorgan Equity Income: Performance Highlights

In just more than a year under portfolio managing duo Brandon and Silberman, the fund has lagged the typical large-value Morningstar Category peer and the Russell 1000 Value Index. That’s not because of changes they made: From August 2024, when former manager Hart was in place, to August 2025, about 90% of JPMorgan Equity Income’s assets were invested the same way. They still use her approach, which drove a 9.6% annualized gain for the institutional shares from August 2004 through August 2025, topping the 8.7% return for the Russell 1000 Value Index and 8.1% rise for the typical large-value category peer.

Overall returns don’t tell the whole story here, however, because holding up well in bear markets is a key trait. The Russell 1000 Value has had five bear market drops of 20% or more since 2004, wherein it has lost an annualized average of 33%. The typical large-value fund dropped 31.7% on average, but this fund’s institutional shares only slipped 27.5%.

JPMorgan Equity Income’s approach includes a dividend requirement and produces reasonable income, but below the Russell 1000 Value Index’s and most equity income peers. Over the decade ended November 2025, the fund’s institutional shares have averaged a 1.9% 12-month yield. There are extremely cheap passive options that have averaged roughly 3% over that period for those desiring a high equity income level.