The Vanguard Health Care Fund (Trades, Portfolio), which offers investors low-cost exposure to domestic and foreign companies involved in various aspects of the health care industry, bought shares of the following stocks in the fourth quarter.
The fund boosted its CVS Health Corp. (CVS, Financial) stake by 160.80%, expanding the portfolio by 1.12%.
The company, which operates retail pharmacies, has a market cap of $84.92 billion and an enterprise value of $106.12 billion.
GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 8 out of 10. The return on equity of 8.48% and return on assets of 2.65% are outperforming 61% of the companies in the Global Health Care Plans industry. Its financial strength is rated 6 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.66 is below the industry median of 1.15.
The company's largest shareholder among the gurus is Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss with 1.53% of outstanding shares, followed by Dodge & Cox with 1.17% and Bill Nygren (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.65%.
The fund's holding of Anthem Inc. (ANTM, Financial) was increased by 75.41%. The trade had an impact of 0.92% on the portfolio.
The company, which provides network-based managed care plans, has a market cap of $78.51 billion and an enterprise value of $75.58 billion.
GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 4 out of 10. While the return on equity of 13.41% is underperforming the sector, the return on assets of 5.15% is outperforming 57% of companies in the Global Health Care Plans industry. Its financial strength is rated 5 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.21 is below the industry median of 1.15.
The company's largest guru shareholder is Andreas Halvorsen (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.85% of outstanding shares, followed by First Eagle Investment (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.14%, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss with 0.9% and the T Rowe Price Equity Income Fund (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.52%.
Vanguard added 26.82% to the Novartis AG (XSWX:NOVN, Financial) position. The trade had an impact of 0.79% on the portfolio.
The fund boosted the Allergan PLC (AGN, Financial) stake by 13.59%, impacting the portfolio by 0.59%.
The pharmaceutical company has a market cap of $46.55 billion and an enterprise value of $68.44 billion.
GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 4 out of 10. The return on equity of -7.28% and return on assets of -4.65% are underperforming 67% of the companies in the Global Drug Manufacturers - Specialty and Generic industry. Its financial strength is rated 5 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 0.08 is below the industry median of 2.03.
Seth Klarman (Trades, Portfolio) is another notable guru shareholder with 4.67% of outstanding shares, followed by Mason Hawkins (Trades, Portfolio)’ Southeastern Asset Management with 0.68%, David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.59% and Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.49%.
Vanguard established a new stake in Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW, Financial), buying 1,519,700 shares. The trade had an impact of 0.54% on the portfolio.
The company, which develops treatments for structural heart disease, has a market cap of $35.56 billion and an enterprise value of $35.16 billion.
GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 8 out of 10. The return on equity of 22.76% and return on assets of 12.68% are outperforming 89% of the companies in the Global Medical Devices industry. Its financial strength is rated 8 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 1.61 is below the industry median of 2.32.
With 0.73% of outstanding shares, Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio) is the company's largest guru shareholder, followed by Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.63% and David Rolfe (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.39%.
The holding of Bluebird Bio Inc. (BLUE, Financial) was boosted by 187.31%, impacting the portfolio by 0.42%.
The clinical-stage biotechnology company has a market cap of $7.38 billion and an enterprise value of $5.84 billion.
GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 5 out of 10. The return on equity of -33.61% and return on assets of -28.20% are outperforming 58% of the companies in the Global Biotechnology industry. Its financial strength is rated 7 out of 10 with a cash-debt ratio of 10.94 that is below the industry median of 64.02.
Pioneer Investments is another notable guru shareholder of the company with 0.18% of outstanding shares, followed by the Eaton Vance Worldwide Health Sciences Fund (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.04% and Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) with 0.03%.
The fund boosted the holding of BeiGene Ltd. (BGNE, Financial) by 331.35%, expanding the portfolio by 0.33%.
The company, which discovers and develops molecularly targeted and immuno-oncology drugs, has a market cap of $7.8 billion and an enterprise value of $5.97 billion.
GuruFocus gives the company a profitability and growth rating of 3 out of 10. The return on equity of -42.45% and return on assets of -32.10% are outperforming 58% of companies in the Global Biotechnology industry. Its financial strength is rated 6 out of 10. The cash-debt ratio of 10.38 is below the industry median of 64.02.
Another notable guru shareholder is PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio) with 1.47% of outstanding shares, followed by Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio)’ Renaissance Technologies with 0.24%.
Disclosure: I do not own any stocks mentioned in this article.
