T. Rowe Price and American active funds lead in 2020

Actively managed funds from the 10 largest active money managers generated returns above their respective benchmarks by an average 0.13 percentage points through the first third of 2020. Funds managed by T. Rowe Price Group and Capital Group's American Funds led the group with average active excess returns of 2.34 and 1.55 percentage points, respectively. Dimensional Fund Advisors' quasi-active, factor-based approach to fund management lagged their stated benchmarks by 4.6 percentage points.

BlackRock and Fidelity Investments had the most success with their active funds. About 64% of BlackRock's 33 active, institutional mutual funds outperformed their benchmarks, with 58% Fidelity's offerings providing clients with positive excess returns.

T. Rowe Price found success across all market-cap categories, while Fidelity's sector-focused funds were found on both ends of the spectrum. Fidelity's precious metals fund was the top outperformer among the fund set, while the firm's energy and financials funds were at the bottom. MFS' global International Intrinsic Value Fund was the second-best performer.