David Swensen Buys Stake in Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

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Aug 19, 2015
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In 30 years as chief investment officer at Yale University, David Swensen (Trades, Portfolio) has been quite successful. In the last decade, he has enjoyed an annual return of more than 17.2% on his investments. In his personal investments, Swensen applies knowledge he has gained in that role as well as in his six years on Wall Street prior to taking the job at Yale

Swensen’s most significant second-quarter transaction was his purchase of a 3,258,000-share stake in Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO, Financial). Swensen paid an average price of $42.57 per share in a deal that had a 37.78% impact on Swensen’s portfolio.

Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Sarah Ketterer (Trades, Portfolio), John Rogers (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio) and Bill Frels (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF in their portfolios.

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Swensen also acquired a 319,273-share stake in Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN, Financial), a Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company, for an average price of $172.58 per share. The sale had a 16.37% impact on Swensen’s portfolio.

Alexion has a market cap of $41.62 billion and an enterprise value of $43.75 billion. It has a P/E of 63.0, a Price/Book of 4.9 and a Price/Sales of 15.6. Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio), Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Lee Ainslie (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Alexion in their portfolios.

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Swensen purchased a 434,566-share stake in LendingClub Corp. (LC, Financial), a San Francisco-based peer-to-peer lending company, for an average price of $17.91 per share. The buy had a 1.82% impact on Swensen’s portfolio.

LendingClub has a market cap of $4.79 billion and an enterprise value of $7.96 billion. It has a Price/Book of 4.8 and a Price/Sales of 3.2. Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio), John Griffin (Trades, Portfolio), George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Chris Davis (Trades, Portfolio), Chase Coleman (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of LendingClub in their portfolios.

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Swensen also bought stakes in Antero Resources Corp. (AR, Financial) and Inogen Inc. (INGN, Financial) in the second quarter.

Swensen added to his existing stake in iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund [ETF] (EFA, Financial). Swensen bought 1,544,057 shares for an average price of $65.54 per share. The purchase had a 27.81% impact on Swensen’s portfolio.

First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio), RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Manning & Napier Advisors, Inc, Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio), Bill Frels (Trades, Portfolio), John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio) and Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund in their portfolios.

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Swensen sold six stakes in the second quarter. The most significant was Veeva Systems Inc. (VEEV, Financial), a Pleasanton, Calif.-based software and health information services company. Swensen sold his 240,000-share stake in the company for an average price of $27.1 per share. The transaction had a -8.88% impact on Swensen’s portfolio.

Veeva Systems has a market cap of $3.37 billion and an enterprise value of $2.94 billion. It has a P/E of 79.5, a Price/Book of 7.9 and a Price/Sales of 11.0. Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Chase Coleman (Trades, Portfolio) and Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Veeva Systems in their portfolios.

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Swensen sold his 81,647-share stake in Demandware Inc. (DWRE, Financial), a Burlington, Mass.-based software technology company, for an average price of $64.34 per share. The sale had a -6.95% impact on Swensen’s portfolio.

Demandware has a market cap of $2.25 billion and an enterprise value of $2.06 billion. It has a Price/Book of 7.7 and a Price/Sales of 10.8. Columbia Wanger (Trades, Portfolio), RS Investment Management (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) and Julian Robertson (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Demandware in their portfolios.

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Swensen also sold his 34,345-share stake in Twitter Inc. (TWTR, Financial), a San Francisco-based social networking service, for an average price of $41.02 per share. The deal had a -2.49% impact on Swensen’s portfolio.

Twitter has a market cap of $18.67 billion and an enterprise value of $16.61 billion. It has a Price/Book of 4.3 and a Price/Sales of 9.9. Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Twitter in their portfolios.

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Swensen also sold his stakes in Intersect ENT Inc. (XENT, Financial), JD.com Inc. (JD, Financial) and Hallador Energy Co. (HNRG).

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