Yale University Slashes Investments in Slack and Zoom Stock
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Yale University’s endowment exited large positions in Slack and Zoom Video in the third quarter, and sold nearly all of its investment in the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund.
F11photo/DreamstimeYale University’s endowment exited investments in two work-from-home plays, and slashed an investment in a popular exchange-traded fund.
Yale sold all of its shares of Slack Technologies (ticker: WORK) and Zoom Video Communications (ZM) in the third quarter, and sold nearly all of its holdings in SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), the world’s largest ETF. The university disclosed the trades, among others, in a form it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Yale didn’t respond to a request for comment on its stock trades.
The university owned 1.7 million shares of communications-platform provider Slack at the end of the second quarter, but sold them all by Sept. 30.
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Slack stock has gained 14.5% year to date through Friday’s close, but recently shares have been slumping. They fell 14% in the third quarter, and are down 4.1% so far in the fourth. By comparison, the S&P 500 index, a broad measure of the market, sports a 2020 gain of 11%, including a 6.6% rise in the fourth quarter so far.
Yale sold all the 224,177 Zoom shares it owned in the third quarter. The videoconferencing firm’s shares have rocketed just shy of 500% so far this year as office teams transitioned to workspaces at home in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yale sold 316,000 shares of the SPY ETF, which is benchmarked to the S&P 500, in the third quarter. As of Sept. 30, the university owned 24,000 shares of the ETF.
We noted in September that Yale’s endowment came up short against the S&P 500 in its latest fiscal year.
Inside Scoop is a regular Barron’s feature covering stock transactions by corporate executives and board members—so-called insiders—as well as large shareholders, politicians, and other prominent figures. Because of their insider status, these investors are required to disclose stock trades with the Securities and Exchange Commission or other regulatory groups.
Write to Ed Lin at edward.lin@barrons.com and follow @BarronsEdLin.