Harvard University sold Apple and Facebook Stock – and bought the alphabet
Photography by William B. Plowman / Getty Images
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Harvard University's endowment made some bold shares in the calendar second quarter.
Harvard Management Co., or HMC, the entity that manages the endowment, monitored $ 405 million in U.S. equities per share. June 30th. This is only a small portion of the total fund, valued at $ 39.2 billion as of June 30, 2018, and the trustee is willing to be fairly liquid with its equity investments.
HMC slices out more than two-fifths of its positions in
apple
(ticker: AAPL) and
Facebook
stock (FB). It also bought several A shares
Alphabet
(GOOGL), and initiated positions in
Booking Holdings
(BKNG) and
Palo Alto Networks
(Panwar).
HMC disclosed the transactions in a form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Most of these industries have switched
S&P 500
2% drop so far in the third quarter.
HMC said it does not comment on specific investments.
Apple shares have gained 30.9% this year, including a 4.3% increase since the end of the second quarter. The results come despite the risk of the tech giant from the trade war and weaker iPhone sales. HMC sold 363,368 Apple shares in the second quarter, reducing its stake to 506,683 shares.
Apple and Palo Alto Networks are the only stock trades that have not worked. Alphabet and Booking outperformed the S&P 500 in July and August, while HMC's other sales, Facebook, underperformed, which was a good fit. Palo Alto Networks has lost a little more than the index.
Facebook share has risen this year – 40.1% – though the high gain includes a 4.8% decline in the third quarter. Strong second-quarter results and positive Wall Street comments in July did not reflect the shares of social media. HMC sold 136,318 Facebook shares, reducing its investment to 170,081 shares at the end of June.
HMC further purchased 37,809 Alphabet shares in the second quarter, increasing its stake to 112,346 shares for Google's mother. Alphabet's share has grown 12.8% this year, up 8.9% in the third quarter. We believe Alphabet's shares can do even better with more aggressive stock repurchases, while other voices require YouTube and other moves.
Booking, an online travel service company that owns the Priceline and Kayak brands, has seen shares rise 11.6% this year, including a 2.5% gain during July and August. Booking reported a strong second quarter earlier this month. HMC initiated a position in Booking during the second quarter, ending June with 25,674 shares. It had not owned anyone at the end of the first quarter.
HMC purchased 54,006 shares of the internet company Palo Alto Networks in the second quarter. The stock has risen 5.8% this year, including a 2.3% slide in the third quarter. A chief financial officer earlier this month told us that the Palo Alto Networks stock is one of his choices.
Inside Scoop is a common Barron feature that covers corporate transactions of corporate executives and board members – so-called insiders – as well as major shareholders, politicians and other prominent individuals. Because of their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trading with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com
