“They are one of the few shops that is good at lots of things,” said Andrew Arnott, president of John Hancock Investments, which uses Wellington to manage about $11 billion in 16 different funds.

Sara Lou Sherman, a spokeswoman for Wellington, declined to comment for this story.

The $83.8 billion Vanguard Wellington Fund is the biggest of the six funds run solely by the Boston firm. It has returned an annualized 8.6 percent over the past five years, topping 92 percent of rivals, according to Bloomberg data. The fund has about 65 percent of its money in stocks, led by blue-chips like Wells Fargo & Co., Microsoft Corp. and Merck & Co. as of Dec. 31, and 35 percent in bonds.

Light on Junk

Wellington’s Donald Kilbride has just finished 10 years running the $26.1 billion Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund. He beat 97 percent of rivals over that stretch, according to Morningstar, looking for companies with the potential to increase their dividends.

“The reason to buy Dividend Growth is Don Kilbride,” Daniel Wiener, editor of Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, wrote in his most recent newsletter.

Even the $16.9 billion Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Fund tends to hold bonds on the defensive side of the risk spectrum. As of Dec. 31, the fund had 47 percent of its money in bonds rated BB, the highest level of junk debt, compared with 36 percent for the average high-yield fund, according to Morningstar.

The fund has beaten 94 percent of peers over the past five years. It tends to lag behind during strong credit markets, analyst Elizabeth Foos wrote in a note on Morningstar’s website, “but stays ahead when concerns about economic growth and credit quality take their toll.” 

Wellington’s Miss

Not all the funds Wellington runs for Vanguard have been successful. The $891 million Vanguard Capital Value Fund trailed 88 percent of peers over the past five years, according to Bloomberg data.