Vanguard Healthcare Fund is reported to decrease its stake of five companies out of seven total transactions. This report is for its third quarter portfolio update. The companies which suffered from the reductions are including Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD), Bigone Idec Inc. (BIIB), Pall Corp. (PLL), Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX), and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN). Vanguard is known as the largest fund in the global health and biotech category. It has reduced the most funds in the fluid management solution provider which is Pall Corp. The company experienced the reduction for 600,000 shares from its 974,000 shares in the ends of the second quarter. The current shares of the company are approximately are 374,600 shares.
Not only the reduction, but Vanguard Healthcare Fund also included Agilent Technologies to their portfolio. The process is accompanied its shares in TEVA Pharmaceutical industries. Vanguard Healthcare Fund is known to invest in value-oriented stocks of many large companies which are having the business in the health industry sectors. For the February 05, 2013 period, the total of the fund assets is approximate $24.68 billion. The portfolio is including the primarily of stocks of large-cap US and foreign companies which manufacture and distribute healthcare services and supplies.
Morningstar stated that the fund is moving slower if it is compared to its peers. The main reason is that it is larger than other healthcare funds combination. The management now prefers to work with big pharmaceutical companies over the biotech counterparts. It is done so the fun can lag when the smaller biotech companies rally.
Last year, the healthcare reform passed. It removed the uncertainty source and allowed the fund and others in the same category to get better idea on what the industry will look like in the future. The fund has been returned 19.59 percent over the past year and 13.25 percent over the past three years. The manager of the fund is Ed Owens. He has maintained the value-oriented styles since 1984. He emphasizes on the diversifications even the size of the fund has swelled. According to the website, Vanguard Healthcare Fund claimed them as one of the most diversified healthcare funds available in the market. The fund has returned 8.19 percent for more than five years and 10.45 for more than past decade.
The fund is operated by Ed Owens who is value-focused investors. He keeps hunting for stock across healthcare subsectors, geographical areas, and company sizes. The management is making investment in five healthcare areas. These are including pharmaceuticals, devices, services, biotechnology, and international stocks. The managers have the purpose of purchasing the stocks on the cheap and keeping them for the long term. According to Morningstar report, Vanguard Healthcare Fund is outstanding fund.
It is considered doing better than its peers. Its benchmark is also as outstanding as the broad stock market for more than 10 years. Ed Owens has been operating the Health Care over 25 years. He is working with solid team from Wellington Management to support him. Ed Owens is depicted as a methodical investor. He is working to understand and investigate the companies before owning them. If he is comfortable with certain company and the stock represents good value, he will make a decision and keep it.
- Images: faqs.org, businessinsider.com
