Carr Financial Group's Defensive Bond Moves

Carr Financial Group Corp disclosed a purchase of 78,520 shares of Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (NASDAQ:BND) estimated at $6.09 million in its Q3 2025 SEC Form 13F filing.

What happened

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated October 07, 2025, Carr Financial Group Corp increased its position in Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF by 78,520 shares, worth around $6.09 million. The purchase took the fund's BND holdings to 416,423 shares in Q3 2025, valued at $30.97 million.

What else to know

The buy increased BND to 8.5% of Carr Financial Group’s 13F reportable assets under management (AUM) and meant it continued to be the fund's top holding.

The following ETFs make up almost a third of Carr Financial's AUM, as of 30 September, 2025:

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF: $30.97 million (8.5% of AUM)
• Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEMKT:VIG): $25.74 million (7.1% of AUM)
• iShares Msci Intl Quality Factor ETF (NYSEMKT:IQLT): $25.03 million (6.87% of AUM)
• iShares Msci Emerging Markets Ex China ETF (NASDAQ:EMXC): $20.27 million (5.57% of AUM)
• Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSEMKT:VTI): $16.32 million (4.5% of AUM)

As of October 7, 2025, shares were priced at $74.28, up 0.47% over the past year but underperforming the S&P 500 by 12.62 percentage points. BND’s dividend yield was 3.76% as of October 28, 2025.

EFT overview

EFT snapshot

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF is one of the largest fixed income ETFs, providing broad exposure to the U.S. investment-grade bond market. It maintains a balanced allocation across government, corporate, and securitized debt instruments.

• Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF invests in a broad portfolio of U.S. investment-grade taxable bonds.
• It holds a diversified mix of U.S. Treasury, corporate, mortgage-backed, and asset-backed securities, with maturities greater than one year.
• It utilizes a sampling strategy to replicate index performance.

Foolish take

This purchase has slightly increased Carr Financial's bond exposure, though the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF was already its top holding. Bonds can help balance risk in a portfolio, particularly as they often perform well when the Fed cuts rates.

Interestingly, that isn't the only risk-off move Carr Financial made in Q3 2025.

• It bought another $10.14 million of SPDR Gold Shares ETF (NYSEMKT:GLD) taking its holdings to $15.57 million.
• It added $8.92 million to its Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF position, taking its holdings to $25.74 million.

Bonds, gold, and dividend stocks can all act as safe-haven assets during economic downturns. Taken together it looks like Carr Financial increased its defensive investments from almost 14% of its portfolio in Q2 to 20% by the end of Q3.

That isn't to say the investment firm is totally risk averse. It still has significant holdings in a broad mix of equities and other assets. It also increased its position in EMXC, an ETF that gives exposure to emerging market equities outside of China.

Glossary

Form 13F: A quarterly SEC filing by institutional investment managers disclosing their equity holdings.
AUM (Assets Under Management): The total market value of assets that an investment firm manages on behalf of clients.
ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund): An investment fund traded on stock exchanges, holding a basket of securities like stocks or bonds.
Dividend yield: A financial ratio showing how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price.
Investment-grade: Bonds rated as relatively low risk of default by credit rating agencies, typically BBB/Baa or higher.
Mortgage-backed securities: Bonds secured by a pool of mortgages, with payments passed through to investors.
Asset-backed securities: Bonds backed by pools of assets such as loans, leases, or receivables other than mortgages.
Sampling strategy: An investment approach where a fund holds a representative subset of securities to mimic an index's performance.
Total return: The investment's price change plus all dividends and distributions, assuming those payouts are reinvested.
Securitized debt instruments: Financial products created by pooling various types of debt and selling shares to investors.

Emma Newbery has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF, Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF, and Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.