Harvard University’s endowment took new stakes in a dozen Texas-based
oil and gas companies in the latest quarter, according to a regulatory
filing last week, as a plunge in crude prices led to energy stock
declines.
The largest university endowment bought positions in companies including Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP), Dresser-Rand Group Inc. (DRC) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC),
helping increase the market value of its U.S. equities in the energy
industry by $326.4 million to $366.6 million as of Sept. 30. Energy
comprised about a third of Harvard’s $1.1 billion in U.S. public equity
holdings, the second-largest industry, after health care. The holdings
disclosed in the filing account for about 3 percent of the endowment’s
assets, and may not represent Harvard’s broad investment strategy.
Harvard,
whose endowment performance lagged behind Ivy League peers in recent
years, has declined calls by both students and faculty to sell its
holdings of fossil-fuel companies. The endowment, which was valued at
$36.4 billion as of June, mostly invests with external managers. It
reported a 15 percent return on investments for fiscal 2014, and in
September the school chose Stephen Blyth to be Harvard Management Co.’s
next leader.
Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg
Drew Faust, president of Harvard University, has said the school is embracing more... Read More
Oil’s slide pushed energy shares down 20 percent over the
four months through October, contributing almost half of the 4.3 percent
loss in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. Without energy, the broad
U.S. stock index’s decline over the stretch would have been 2.4 percent,
according to data compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Oil Prices
Oil
prices may slide further in the coming months as the market enters a
period of weaker demand, the International Energy Agency said in a Nov.
14 report.
West Texas intermediate crude for December delivery fell 18 cents to settle at $75.64 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures touched $73.25 on Nov. 14, the lowest intraday price since Sept. 21, 2010.
Harvard
President Drew Faust has said the school is embracing more sustainable
investing while relying on research and teaching to provide solutions to
climate change, and also cutting carbon emissions on campus.
Regulatory
filings from last week revealed that Stanford, which earlier this year
became the wealthiest university to join the divestment movement when it
agreed to exit coal, had invested in fossil-fuel companies in the third
quarter. Of the 13 other colleges and universities that have committed
to divest, 12 have included oil and gas, according to 350.org.
Rex Energy
Stanford, whose endowment was valued of $21.4 billion as of August, bought shares of Rex Energy Corp. (REXX)
with a market value of $15.5 million at the end of the quarter,
according to a regulatory filing last week. Stanford also bought shares
in YPF SA and Petrobras Argentina SA, with a market value of $11.1
million as of Sept. 30, and exited its stake in Exxon Mobil Corp., which
had a value of about $201,000.
Harvard’s endowment sold its stakes in three energy stocks last quarter, including Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) and CNOOC Ltd. (CEO), that were valued at $17.6 million as of June 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from the filing.
Money
managers who oversee more than $100 million in equities in the U.S.
must file a Form 13F within 45 days of each quarter’s end to list those
stocks as well as options and convertible bonds. The filings don’t show
non-U.S. securities, holdings that aren’t publicly traded, or cash.
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