MFS Municipal Limited Maturity Fund
MFS Series Trust IX · 5 share classes
Fund classification
Classified from what the fund holds · as of 2026 Q2
MFS Municipal Limited Maturity Fund is an actively managed U.S. bond fund.
- Asset class
- Bonds
- Region
- United States
- Management
- Actively managed
- Fund type
- Open-end fund
- Credit quality
- Investment grade
- Rate sensitivity
- Short duration
Fund profile
As filed in the prospectus · 2025 Q3
The funds investment objective is to seek total return with an emphasis on income exempt from U.S. federal income tax, but also considering capital preservation.
The fund invests primarily in municipal bonds exempt from U.S. federal income tax, selected through bottom-up fundamental analysis of individual issuers and instruments, with a dollar-weighted average maturity normally not exceeding five years. The fund maintains at least 80% of assets in federally tax-exempt municipal securities but may hold up to 25% or more in similar-purpose projects such as education, healthcare, or utilities, and may concentrate a significant portion in issuers within a single state or small number of states. The fund may invest in below-investment-grade municipal debt and may use derivatives to adjust market or interest-rate exposure. Because the fund may concentrate assets in a limited number of states or project types, performance depends on conditions affecting those specific issuers and sectors.
| Share class | Gross | Net |
|---|---|---|
| MTLFX | 0.72% | 0.59% |
| MTLBX | 1.47% | 1.34% |
| MTLCX | 1.47% | 1.44% |
| MTLIX | 0.47% | 0.44% |
| MTLRX | 0.40% | 0.36% |
Net is what a holder pays after the adviser's contractual waiver; gross is before it. A waiver can expire.
Portfolio turnover 29.00% · as of 2025 Q3
Allocation
Asset groups · long / short shown separately, never netted · 2026 Q2
| Bonds | 96.89% |
| Cash & short-term | 3.62% |
| Securitized | 0.19% |
Latest quarter
What changed since the fund's previous filing
Largest new: Collier County Industrial Development Authority, Wisconsin Health & Educational Facilities Authority, Tarrant County Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corp., Black Belt Energy Gas District ×2, Harris County Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corp., Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority, Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing Authority
Largest exited: Empire State Development Corp., County of Carroll KY, Colorado Health Facilities Authority, Michigan State Housing Development Authority, Toll Road Investors Partnership II LP, King County Housing Authority, Arlington Housing Finance Corp., Allentown City School District
Return profile
Total return as filed — price change plus distributions reinvested · trailing figures to Apr 2026
| Share class | 1-year | 3-year | 5-year | Vol | Worst fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +4.95% | +11.77% | +7.70% | 2.45% | -1.70% | |
| +4.05% | +9.31% | +3.73% | 2.45% | -1.76% | |
| +3.93% | +8.95% | +3.10% | 2.47% | -1.77% | |
| +4.97% | +12.23% | +8.34% | 2.45% | -1.69% | |
| +5.20% | +12.67% | +8.90% | 2.46% | -1.68% |
These classes hold the same portfolio, so the 5.80pp spread over 5 years is the cost difference between them — roughly 1.16pp a year — not a difference in what they own.
Debt profile
What this fund holds — value-weighted across its bond and securitized long positions · as of 2026-04-30
Share of the fund's debt by how its coupon behaves — the fact that decides whether a rate move reaches this portfolio at all.
| Fixed rate | 66.3% |
| Floating rate | 31.7% |
| Zero-coupon or unclassified | 2.1% |
Share of the fund's debt value in each maturity band, shortest first.
| <1y | 5.7% |
| 1-3y | 12.7% |
| 3-5y | 12.0% |
| 5-10y | 34.8% |
| 10y+ | 34.8% |
These three overlap — one holding can be in arrears and paying in kind at once — so they are shown separately and never summed.
Risk profile
Interest-rate and credit-spread sensitivity, both in years · as of 2026Q2
More of this fund’s sensitivity sits in credit spreads than in interest rates — a rate rally that comes with a credit selloff works against it.
Where the loss would come from. The two shocks are the same size, so this is the balance of the fund's two sensitivities rather than a bet on one moving more.
| Credit spreads | 57% |
| Interest rates | 43% |
Filers report the impact of a 0.01% move only, so the total is our own scaling of that one number and overstates the loss on most bonds — read it as approximate, never as precise. The two sensitivities overlap rather than add up: they measure the same positions against different shocks, which is why the durations above are shown side by side and never summed.
Share of the fund's spread duration carried by each credit tier.
| Investment grade | +3.48 yr |
| High yield | +0.36 yr |
Share of duration at each point, shortest first. A positive figure loses value when spreads widen; a negative one offsets — a credit hedge.
| 3 mo | 0.07 yr | 3% |
| 1 yr | 0.37 yr | 13% |
| 5 yr | 1.40 yr | 48% |
| 10 yr | 0.99 yr | 34% |
| 30 yr | 0.07 yr | 2% |
| 3 mo | 0.04 yr | 1% |
| 1 yr | 0.51 yr | 13% |
| 5 yr | 1.98 yr | 52% |
| 10 yr | 1.25 yr | 33% |
| 30 yr | 0.06 yr | 2% |
The two bands measure the same positions against different shocks and do not add — a Treasury carries rate duration and no spread duration, a floating-rate credit the reverse. Rate tenors are also summed across every currency the fund discloses.
Show the numbers
| Tenor | Rate yrs | IG yrs | HY yrs | IG $/bp | HY $/bp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 mo | +0.07 | +0.03 | +0.00 | $9.6k | $1.4k |
| 1 yr | +0.37 | +0.44 | +0.07 | $138.4k | $20.7k |
| 5 yr | +1.40 | +1.82 | +0.16 | $565.5k | $49.8k |
| 10 yr | +0.99 | +1.13 | +0.12 | $350.0k | $38.7k |
| 30 yr | +0.07 | +0.06 | +0.01 | $17.3k | $2.7k |
Dollar change per 1bp of spread movement, as filed and sign-anchored. A blank cell was not filed; a zero was.
Holdings
By % of NAV · equity positions carry filed share counts · every resolvable issuer links to its company page
| Ticker | Issuer | %NAV | Value | Shares |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | MFS Institutional Money Market Portfolio | 3.62% | $112.69M | — |
| — | Dallas Fort Worth International Airport5.00% floating · due 2050-11-01 | 0.82% | $25.39M | — |
| — | Collier County Industrial Development Authority5.00% · due 2035-04-01 | 0.71% | $22.23M | — |
| — | California Community Choice Financing Authority5.00% floating · due 2056-01-01 | 0.71% | $22.21M | — |
| — | California Community Choice Financing Authority5.25% floating · due 2054-01-01 | 0.71% | $22.03M | — |
| — | Tennessee Energy Acquisition Corp.5.00% floating · due 2053-05-01 | 0.63% | $19.56M | — |
| — | Wisconsin Health & Educational Facilities Authority5.00% floating · due 2046-12-01 | 0.60% | $18.60M | — |
| — | San Francisco City & County Airport Comm-San Francisco International Airport5.00% · due 2033-05-01 | 0.59% | $18.32M | — |
| — | Colorado Health Facilities Authority5.00% floating · due 2049-11-15 | 0.58% | $17.93M | — |
| — | Tennergy Corp.5.50% floating · due 2053-10-01 | 0.54% | $16.91M | — |
Top 10 positions are 9.51% of net assets, top 25 16.88%, across 360 issuers.
See more of this fund's book
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