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Aug. 31, 2025
Neuberger Quality Equity Fund (formerly Neuberger Berman Sustainable Equity Fund) | Class A Shares (NRAAX), Class C Shares (NRACX), Institutional Class Shares (NBSLX)
GOAL
The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital by investing primarily in securities of companies that meet the Fund’s Sustainable Investing Criteria.
Fees and Expenses
These tables describe the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold or sell shares of the Fund. Under the Fund’s policies, you may qualify for initial sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in Neuberger funds. Certain financial intermediaries have sales charges and/or policies and procedures regarding sales charge waivers applicable to their customers that differ from those described below. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial intermediary, in “Sales Charge Reductions and Waivers” on page 213 in the Fund’s prospectus, and in Appendix A to the Fund’s prospectus. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
 
Class A
Class C
Institutional Class
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum initial sales charge on purchases (as a % of offering price)
5.75
None
None
Maximum contingent deferred sales charge (as a % of the lower of original purchase price or current market
value)1
None
1.00
None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a % of the value of your
investment)
Management fees
0.75
0.75
0.64
Distribution and/or shareholder service (12b-1) fees
0.25
1.00
None
Other expenses
0.05
0.05
0.05
Total annual operating expenses
1.05
1.80
0.69
1
For Class A shares, a contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) of 1.00% applies on certain redemptions made within 18 months following purchases of $1 million or more made without an initial sales charge. For Class C shares, the CDSC is eliminated one year after purchase.
Expense Example
The expense example can help you compare costs among mutual funds. The example assumes that you invested $10,000 for the periods shown, that you redeemed all of your shares at the end of those periods, that the Fund earned a hypothetical 5% total return each year, and that the Fund’s expenses were those in the table. For Class A and Institutional Class shares, your costs would be the same whether you sold your shares or continued to hold them at the end of each period. Actual performance and expenses may be higher or lower.
assuming redemption
 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class A
$676
$890
$1,121
$1,784
Class C (assuming redemption)
$283
$566
$975
$2,116
Class C (assuming no redemption)
$183
$566
$975
$2,116
Institutional Class
$70
$221
$384
$859
assuming no redemption
 
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class A
$676
$890
$1,121
$1,784
Class C (assuming redemption)
$283
$566
$975
$2,116
Class C (assuming no redemption)
$183
$566
$975
$2,116
Institutional Class
$70
$221
$384
$859
Portfolio Turnover
The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 10% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
To pursue its goal, the Fund seeks to invest predominantly in common stocks of mid- to large-capitalization companies that the Portfolio Manager believes to be high-quality selected in accordance with the Fund’s Sustainable Investing Criteria, which is described further below. The Fund defines “predominantly” for this purpose to mean at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets at the time of initial purchase. The Fund defines mid-capitalization companies as those with a total market capitalization of $2 billion and above and large-capitalization companies as those with a total market capitalization of $10 billion and above, both at the time of initial purchase. Please see the Statement of Additional Information for a detailed description of the Fund’s Sustainable Investing Criteria.
The Portfolio Manager employs a fundamental, research-driven approach to stock selection and portfolio construction, with a focus on long term sustainability issues that, in the judgement of the Portfolio Manager, are financially material.
This sustainable investment approach seeks to identify high quality, well-positioned companies with leadership that the Portfolio Manager believes exhibits management integrity and are focused on sustainability issues relevant to their business. In doing such, the Portfolio Manager seeks to identify companies with certain practices, including (i) clear and relevant communication regarding management’s understanding, commitment to, and prioritization of, sustainability issues relevant to the business; (ii) identification and disclosure of material sustainability considerations and management objectives (e.g., sustainability-linked goals and targets, including their supply chain, or executive compensation frameworks linked to such goals and targets); and/or (iii) board-level oversight on material sustainability issues.
In seeking to identify companies that the Portfolio Manager believes to be high-quality, the Portfolio Manager looks for the following characteristics: solid balance sheets, durable business franchise with a sound business model (i.e., established businesses focused on long-term profitability and cash flow), high-integrity management teams with a history of successfully allocating capital and generating returns for shareholders, and a conservative capital structure. Furthermore, among companies that meet these criteria, the Portfolio Manager looks for companies exhibiting characteristics that in the Portfolio Manager’s judgement are consistent with Quality at a Reasonable Price (“QARP”). In determining his assessment of valuation, the Portfolio Manager may consider, return on invested capital (“ROIC”), his assessment of future economic earnings, free cash flow analysis, multiples of price to earnings, revenues, book values, or other fundamental metrics, with the objective of buying what the Portfolio Manager believes to be higher-quality companies at a reasonable price. While these judgments are inevitably subjective and may be informed by both internally generated and third-party metrics, the Portfolio Manager endeavors to avoid companies that do not meet his QARP investment framework.
Among companies that meet these criteria, the Portfolio Manager focuses on identifying companies that show leadership in financially material environmental, social and governance considerations, including: (i) environmental issues; (ii) safe and equitable workplace practices; (iii) constructive community relations; (iv) supply chain issues; (v) product integrity (e.g., safety, quality) and (vi) disclosure and sustainability reporting.
Consistent with the Portfolio Manager’s focus on selecting companies in accordance with the Fund’s Sustainable Investing Criteria, the Portfolio Manager focuses on identifying companies that are responsive to financially material environmental issues, including those that have identified and communicated climate-related risks and opportunities, have identified and communicated net-zero transition plans, have committed to or are transitioning to facilitate global decarbonization and/or the reduction of other greenhouse gas emissions; are agents of favorable change in workplace policies (particularly for women and minorities); are committed to upholding universal human rights standards; and are good corporate citizens. The Portfolio Manager judges companies on their corporate citizenship overall, considering their accomplishments as well as their goals. While these judgments are inevitably subjective, consistent with the Fund’s focus on selecting companies in accordance with the Fund’s Sustainable Investing Criteria, the Portfolio Manager endeavors to avoid companies that derive revenue from gambling or the production of alcohol, tobacco, weapons, nuclear power or private prisons. Consistent with the Portfolio Manager’s fundamental approach to stock selection and in an effort to enhance shareholder value, the Portfolio Manager may engage with companies on a variety of topics, including but not limited to, environmental impact, workplace policies, community relations, product integrity, supply chains, governance and disclosure practices, and other emerging issues. The Fund considers its environmental, social and governance criteria to be the same as its Sustainable Investing Criteria.
Although the Fund invests primarily in domestic stocks, it may also invest in stocks of foreign companies. The Fund seeks to reduce risk by investing across many different industries.
The Fund is a non-diversified fund, which means that it can invest more of its assets in fewer companies than a diversified fund.
The Portfolio Manager follows a disciplined selling strategy and may sell a security if the Portfolio Manager believes it is unattractively valued, if a company’s business fails to perform as expected, or when other opportunities appear more attractive.
The Fund will not change its strategy of normally investing at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities, without providing shareholders at least 60 days’ notice. For this purpose, equity securities include common stock, preferred stock and securities convertible into common or preferred stock.
PERFORMANCE
The following bar chart and table provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s performance has varied from year to year, as represented by the performance of the Fund's Institutional Class. The returns in the bar chart do not reflect any applicable sales charges. If sales charges were reflected, returns would be lower than those shown. The table below the bar chart shows what the returns would equal if you averaged out actual performance over various lengths of time and compares the returns with the returns of a broad based market index. The index, which is described in “Descriptions of Indices” in the prospectus, has characteristics relevant to the Fund’s investment strategy. Unlike the returns in the bar chart, the returns in the table reflect the maximum applicable sales charges.
Returns would have been lower if the Manager had not reimbursed certain expenses and/or waived a portion of the investment management fees during certain of the periods shown.
As of May 16, 2024, the Fund changed its investment policy to become “non-diversified” under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Its performance prior to this change might have been different if current policies had been in effect.
Past performance (before and after taxes) is not a prediction of future results. Visit www.nb.com or call 800-366-6264 for updated performance information.
year-by-year % Returns as of 12/31 each year
Best quarter:
Q2 2020
19.31%
Worst quarter:
Q1 2020
-21.49%
Year to Date performance as of:
09/30/2025
10.39%
average annual total % returns as of 12/31/2024 
Quality Equity Fund
Quality Equity Fund
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Institutional Class Return Before Taxes
28.37
14.47
11.82
Institutional Class Return After Taxes on Distributions
26.69
12.30
9.84
Institutional Class Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares
18.06
11.18
9.17
Class A Return Before Taxes
20.59
12.72
10.75
Class C Return Before Taxes
25.94
13.20
10.58
S&P 500® Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
25.02
14.53
13.10
After-tax returns are shown for Institutional Class shares only and after-tax returns for other classes may vary. After-tax returns are calculated using the
historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an
investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred
arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.