Nuveen AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund (NEA) and Nuveen Quality Municipal Income Fund (NAD) focus on leveraged portfolios of U.S. municipal bonds, managed by Nuveen Asset Management. Over the 12 months ended October 31, 2025, NAD returned 2.40% and NEA 2.49% on net asset value, trailing their blended benchmarks, which each returned 3.99%.
Both funds benefited from positioning in longer-duration, lower-rated municipal bonds and selective sector overweights, but overall leverage and exposure to very long maturities weighed on relative results. At period-end, effective leverage was 41.57% for NAD and 40.73% for NEA, primarily via preferred shares and inverse floating-rate structures.
The funds paid steady monthly tax-exempt income, with total distributions of $0.8960 per share for NAD and $0.8660 for NEA. Market yields were 7.56% for NAD and 7.52% for NEA, with high taxable-equivalent yields for investors in higher federal tax brackets. Shares traded at modest discounts to net asset value, and each fund has board authorization to repurchase up to roughly 10% of its common shares, although no repurchases occurred during the period.
Nuveen AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund (NEA): An officer filed an initial ownership report (Form 3). The reporting person serves as VP and Treasurer and reported no securities beneficially owned. The stated event date is 09/10/2025, and the filing was made by one reporting person.
Nathaniel T. Jones, Vice President of Nuveen AMT-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund (NEA), reported a sale of 400 shares of the issuer's common stock on 09/10/2025 at a price of $11.35 per share. The Form 4 shows 0.0000 shares beneficially owned following the transaction. The filing was signed under power of attorney by Mark L. Winget on 09/11/2025. The document discloses the single non-derivative sale and lists no derivative transactions or additional holdings.