Stanford University returned 6.5% in fiscal 2019, a decline in performance from the prior year that’s in keeping with many large endowments.
The endowment grew to $27.7 billion, the university said in a statement Wednesday. The fund returned 11.3% in fiscal 2018.
Elite schools, including Yale and Harvard, have mostly seen a slide in performance this year. Big endowments have generally allocated more capital to international stocks, which suffered last year, than better performing U.S. equities. They have also poured into alternative investments such as private equity and hedge funds.
“Results were aided by particularly strong performance in private equity, the largest single asset class in the Merged Pool portfolio,” Robert Wallace, chief executive officer of Stanford Management Co., said in the statement.
Brown University gained 12.4% in the 12 months ending in June, making it the top performing Ivy League endowment, with five of the eight schools reporting.
Other universities will post their performance in coming weeks. Those already reporting are below.