Fidelity Magellan Fund Assets Fell 6.4% in July

The assets of Fidelity Investments’ flagship Magellan Fund fell 6.4%, or $3.5 billion, in July, a record monthly mutual fund decline, research group Lipper Analytical Services Inc. said Monday.

“It’s the biggest dollar loss in a month in our memory,” said Lipper Analytical President Michael Lipper, who started following the fund business in 1968.

Magellan’s assets fell to $50.97 billion on July 31 from $54.47 billion on June 30, according to a report published by Fidelity Investments.

The fund’s assets were as high as $55.5 billion in February. Since then, it’s been hurt by poor performance and shareholder redemptions.

Investors have pulled a net $1.84 billion from Magellan in recent months, according to an estimate by Eric Kobren, executive editor of Fidelity Insight, an independent publication that tracks the fund company.

“Cash flows have stabilized in more recent weeks,” Kobren said.

Still, Magellan’s returns have badly lagged the U.S. benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index this year. The fund was up just 1.35% as of Thursday, compared with the S&P; 500’s 9.01% gain. It ranked No. 620 out of 665 “growth” stock funds tracked by Lipper.

While Magellan boosted its stock holdings and cut its assets in bonds during June, as of June 30 the fund’s top three holdings remained Treasury bonds.

On May 31, the top three holdings were also Treasury bonds.

Energy stocks remained Magellan’s largest equity sector, at 13.5% of assets June 30, down from 12.4% on May 31.

Companies that make durable goods, such as cars and refrigerators, remained the second-largest stock sector, rising to 10.4% as of June 30 from 9.2% on May 31.

Industrial machinery and equipment took third place, rising to 9.2% from 8.4%.

The technology sector inched up to 3.7% from 2.6%.

The fund’s biggest single stock holding as of June 30 was Caterpillar Inc. Other top holdings included General Motors Corp., AT&T; Corp., Chrysler Corp., CSX Corp. and Deere & Co.