FKBAX
Franklin Total Return Fund
Franklin Investors Securities Trust
Expense ratio1
0.73%
Net assets2
$2.95B
Holdings2
921
Category
Allocation
2025 return3
6.93%

Investment objective & strategy

As of Feb. 25, 2026 · prospectus

Objective. High current income, consistent with preservation of capital. As a secondary goal, capital appreciation over the long term.

Strategy. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in debt securities, which may be represented by derivative investments that provide exposure to debt securities such as futures, options and swap agreements. The debt securities in which the Fund may invest include government and corporate debt securities, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, floating interest rate corporate loans and debt securities and municipal securities. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in investment grade debt securities and in unrated securities that the investment manager deems are of comparable quality. Derivatives whose reference securities are investment grade are considered by the Fund to be investment grade. The Fund's focus on the credit quality of its portfolio is intended to reduce credit risk and … Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in debt securities, which may be represented by derivative investments that provide exposure to debt securities such as futures, options and swap agreements. The debt securities in which the Fund may invest include government and corporate debt securities, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, floating interest rate corporate loans and debt securities and municipal securities. Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests primarily in investment grade debt securities and in unrated securities that the investment manager deems are of comparable quality. Derivatives whose reference securities are investment grade are considered by the Fund to be investment grade. The Fund's focus on the credit quality of its portfolio is intended to reduce credit risk and help to preserve the Fund's capital. The Fund also may invest up to 20% of its total assets in non-investment grade securities, including up to 5% in securities rated lower than B- by S&P Global Ratings (S&P) or Moody's Investors Services (Moody's), which may include defaulted securities. (In calculating the above non-investment grade debt limitations, the Fund combines its non-investment grade debt securities with the net long and short exposure to non-investment grade debt securities from derivative instruments.) Excluding derivatives, the Fund invests no more than 33% of its total assets in non-investment grade debt securities, including no more than 5% in securities rated lower than B- by S&P or Moody's, which may include defaulted securities. For purposes of the credit limitations above, non-investment grade debt securities include unrated securities that the investment manager deems are of comparable quality. The Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in foreign securities, including up to 20% of its total assets in non-U.S. dollar denominated securities and up to 10% of its total assets in emerging market securities. The Fund may invest in many different securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or by non-U.S. governments, or their respective agencies or instrumentalities, including mortgage-backed securities and inflation-indexed securities issued by the U.S. Treasury. Mortgage-backed securities represent an interest in a pool of mortgage loans made by banks and other financial institutions to finance purchases of homes, commercial buildings and other real estate. The individual mortgage loans are packaged or "pooled" together for sale to investors. As the underlying mortgage loans are paid off, investors receive principal and interest payments. These securities may be fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities (ARMS). Mortgage securities may include agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), including CMO floaters and CMO IOs (interest only). The Fund may purchase or sell mortgage-backed securities on a delayed delivery or forward commitment basis through the "to-be-announced" (TBA) market. With TBA transactions, the particular securities to be delivered must meet specified terms and standards. The Fund may also invest a small portion of its assets directly in whole mortgage loans. To pursue its investment goal, the Fund regularly enters into various derivative transactions, including currency forwards, currency futures, interest rate/bond futures contracts and options on interest rate futures contracts, options on exchange-traded funds, swap agreements, including interest rate, fixed income total return, currency and credit default swaps, including credit default swap index tranches, options on interest rate and credit default swap indices. The use of these derivative transactions may allow the Fund to obtain net long or short exposures to select currencies, interest rates, countries, duration or credit risks. These derivatives may be used to enhance Fund returns, increase liquidity, gain exposure to certain instruments or markets in a more efficient or less expensive way and/or hedge risks associated with its other portfolio investments. The Fund may, at times, have significant exposure to treasury futures. The Fund may invest in mortgage dollar rolls. In a mortgage dollar roll, the Fund sells mortgage-backed securities for delivery in the current month and simultaneously contracts to repurchase substantially similar (same type, coupon, and maturity) securities on a specified future date. During the period between the sale and repurchase, the Fund forgoes principal and interest paid on the mortgage-backed securities. The Fund earns money on a mortgage dollar roll from any difference between the sale price and the future purchase price, as well as the interest earned on the cash proceeds of the initial sale. The Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in structured fixed income securities, such as collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which are generally a type of asset-backed securities. The Fund's investments in CDOs may include investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), which are a type of CDO. In pursuing its investment goals, the Fund may gain exposure to particular investments by investing directly in securities or other instruments or by investing in other mutual funds or exchange-traded funds that provide exposure to such investments. In choosing investments, the Funds investment manager selects securities in various market sectors based on the investment managers assessment of changing economic, market, industry and issuer conditions. The investment manager uses a top-down analysis of macroeconomic trends, combined with a bottom-up fundamental analysis of market sectors, industries and issuers, to try to take advantage of varying sector reactions to economic events.

Top holdings

As of Jan. 31, 2026 · N-PORT
SecurityTickerValue% of fund
Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security, TBA FNMA $296.97M 10.06%
US TREASURY N/B $78.06M 2.64%
Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security, TBA FNMA $71.78M 2.43%
Uniform Mortgage-Backed Security, TBA FNMA $55.93M 1.89%
Freddie Mac Pool $48.34M 1.64%
US TREASURY N/B $45.72M 1.55%
US TREASURY N/B $45.62M 1.55%
FR SD8204 $40.44M 1.37%
Uniform Mortgage-Backed Securities FR $35.97M 1.22%
TBA GNMA 30 YR 5.50000000 GNR $34.31M 1.16%
View all holdings →

Allocation by sector

As of January 31, 2026 · N-PORT
View portfolio breakdown →

Portfolio moves

Oct 31, 2025 → Jan 31, 2026
Opened
109
Exited
78
Increased
32
Decreased
411
Unchanged
421

How many positions this fund opened, exited, grew, trimmed, or left unchanged between its two most recent N-PORT snapshots — net changes between point-in-time reports, not a trade log.

View portfolio moves →

Similar funds

Funds whose portfolios most overlap this one, by weight
FundOverlapNet exp.
Franklin Core Plus Bond Fund · FRSTX, FSGCX, FKSAX, FKSRX, FGKNX 42% 0.37%
Putnam Core Bond Fund 21% 0.39%
Putnam Income Fund · PINCX, PNCBX, PUICX, PNCMX, PIFRX, PNCYX 21% 0.38%
View all similar funds →

Advisers

As of October 31, 2025 · N-CEN
FirmRole
Franklin Advisers, Inc. Adviser

Footnotes

  1. Expense ratio as of February 25, 2026, from the fund's prospectus.
  2. Net assets and holdings count as of January 31, 2026, from the fund's N-PORT filing.
  3. Total return for calendar year 2025, before tax and after fund expenses. As reported in the fund's prospectus performance bar chart.

Machine-readable: JSON · Markdown. Programmatic access via the agent surface.