Vanguard Raises Stakes in Biogen, Mylan, Merck

Fund buys no new stakes in 3rd quarter

Nov 15, 2015

As its name suggests, Vanguard Health Care Fund (Trades, Portfolio) is almost exclusively interested in health care companies. It bought no new stakes in the third quarter, but it did make additions to several existing stakes.

Vanguard’s most noteworthy third-quarter transaction was the doubling of its 10th-most valuable stake, Biogen Inc. (BIIB, Financial), a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotechnology company. Vanguard acquired 1,886,393 shares for an average price of $330.23 per share, raising its stake to 3,666,723. The transaction had a 1.19% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

Biogen has a market cap of $63.49 billion and an enterprise value of $64.19 billion. It has a P/E of 18.6, a forward P/E of 16.0, a P/B of 6.0 and a P/S of 6.3. GuruFocus has given Biogen a Financial Strength rating of 9/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 9/10.

Late Friday Biogen sold for $284.84 per share.

Vanguard raised its stake in Mylan NV (MYL, Financial), an Amsterdam-based pharmaceutical company, by more than 46% with the purchase of 7,370,977 shares for an average price of $55.75 per share. The deal had a 0.64% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

Mylan has a market cap of $23.99 billion and an enterprise value of $28.59 billion. It has a P/E of 27.9, a forward P/E of 9.9, a P/B of 2.6 and a P/S of 2.5. GuruFocus has given Mylan a Financial Strength rating of 7/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 8/10.

Vanguard is Mylan’s leading shareholder among the gurus. John Paulson (Trades, Portfolio), Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio), Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio), Eric Mindich (Trades, Portfolio), Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio), Kyle Bass (Trades, Portfolio), David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Instruments, Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), Scott Black (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), John Keeley (Trades, Portfolio), Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) and Tom Russo (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Mylan in their portfolios.

Mylan sold for $48.78 per share late Friday.

Vanguard raised its stake in Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK, Financial), a Kenilworth, N.J.-based pharmaceutical company and Vanguard’s fourth-most valuable stake, by nearly 9%. Vanguard purchased 3,994,890 shares for an average price of $55.67 per share. The transaction had a 0.43% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

Merck has a market cap of $148.14 billion and an enterprise value of $164.77 billion. It has a P/E of 15.6, a forward P/E of 14.0, a P/B of 3.3 and a P/S of 3.8. GuruFocus has given Merck a Financial Strength rating of 7/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 8/10.

Late Friday Merck sold for $53.03 per share.

Vanguard raised its stake in HCA Holdings Inc. (HCA, Financial), a healthcare facilities operator based in Nashville, Tenn., by nearly one-third with the purchase of 2,536,943 shares for an average price of $88.55 per share. The acquisition had a 0.42% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

HCA Holdings has a market cap of $27.09 billion and an enterprise value of $57.74 billion. It has a P/E of 24.9, a forward P/E of 11.6 and a P/S of 0.7. GuruFocus has given HCA Holdings a Financial Strength rating of 5/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 8/10.

HCA Holdings sold for $66.45 per share late Friday.

Vanguard more than tripled its stake in Baxter International Inc. (BAX, Financial), a Deerfield, Ill.-based medical equipment company, with the purchase of 5,250,260 shares at an average price of $37.85 per share. The transaction had a 0.37% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

Baxter has a market cap of $20.55 billion and an enterprise value of $20.14 billion. It has a P/E of 11.9, a forward P/E of 26.7, a P/B of 2.6 and a P/S of 1.3. GuruFocus has given Baxter a Financial Strength rating of 7/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.

Late Friday Baxter sold for $37.57 per share.

Vanguard reduced its stake in Pfizer Inc. (PFE, Financial), a New York-based pharmaceutical company, by more than 35% with the sale of 6,844,630 shares for an average price of $33.8. The deal had a -0.46% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

Pfizer has a market cap of $205.38 billion and an enterprise value of $223.93 billion. It has a P/E of 24.9, a forward P/E of 13.6, a P/B of 3.1 and a P/S of 4.4. GuruFocus has given Pfizer a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 7/10.

Pfizer sold for $33.27 per share late Friday.

Vanguard reduced its stake in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (REGN, Financial), a Tarrytown, N.Y.-based biotechnology company, by nearly 12% with its sale of 316,646 shares for an average price of $537.03 per share. The transaction had a -0.32% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

Regeneron, Vanguard’s ninth-most valuable stake, has a market cap of $57.12 billion and an enterprise value of $55.94 billion. It has a P/E of 108.8, a forward P/E of 35.7, a P/B of 17.3 and a P/S of 16.6. GuruFocus has given Regeneron a Financial Strength rating of 6/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 5/10.

Frank Sands (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Kyle Bass (Trades, Portfolio), Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio), Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Regeneron in their portfolios.

Late Friday Regeneron sold for $548.9 per share.

Vanguard sold its 2,094,904-share stake in Community Health Systems Inc. (CYH, Financial), a Franklin, Tenn.-based healthcare services provider, for an average price of $55.6 per share. The deal had a -0.26% impact on Vanguard’s portfolio.

Community Health Systems has a market cap of $3.2 billion and an enterprise value of $19.58 billion. It has a P/E of 9.2, a forward P/E of 6.7, a P/B of 0.8 and a P/S of 0.2. GuruFocus has given Community Health Systems a Financial Strength rating of 4/10 and a Profitability and Growth rating of 6/10.

Larry Robbins (Trades, Portfolio), Ron Baron (Trades, Portfolio), Richard Perry (Trades, Portfolio), Richard Snow (Trades, Portfolio), Louis Moore Bacon (Trades, Portfolio), John Hussman (Trades, Portfolio), Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio), Jeff Auxier (Trades, Portfolio), Joel Greenblatt (Trades, Portfolio), David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio), Ray Dalio (Trades, Portfolio) and Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) have shares of Community Health Systems in their portfolios.

Community Health Systems sold for $27.1 per share late Friday.

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