Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Health Care Fund has reduced its
stake of five companies out of the seven total transactions it
reported recently for its third quarter portfolio update.
The companies that experienced the reductions are: Gilead
Sciences Inc. (
GILD
), Biogen Idec Inc. (
BIIB
), Pall Corp. (
PLL
), Onyx Pharmaceuticals (
ONXX
) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (
REGN
).
As the largest fund in the global health and biotech category,
according to its website, Vanguard reduced the most in fluid
management solutions provider, Pall Corp., by 61.56 percent of
its shares with the company. This percentage accounts for the
decrease of 600,000 shares from its 974,000 shares in the end of
the second quarter, bringing the fund's current holding down to
374,600 shares.
Headquartered in New York, Pall Corp. is currently trading at
$64.54 per share, the stock up almost 3%, with a market cap of
$7.08 billion.
After its fiscal year ended in July 31, 2012, Pall released a
fourth quarter and full year fiscal report in September, which
revealed increases in such areas as sales and earnings per share.
Certain segments of the company, such as bio-pharmaceuticals,
food and beverage and medical all underwent sales growth for the
quarter.
With a positive price valuation trendline in a five-year time
frame, Pall's trading price almost reaches its 10-year high,
according to one of its four
Medium Warning Signs
on GuruFocus. Two of the Medium Warning signs also denote its P/B
and P/S ratios close to three year highs.
Its three
Good Warning Signs
indicate Pall's strong financial strength, an expanding operating
margin and a stock dividend yield close to its two-year high.
Besides the reductions, Vanguard also
added Agilent Technologies
(
A
) to its portfolio, and increased its shares in Teva
Pharmaceutical Industries (
TEVA
).
To view the rest of the data pertaining to Vanguard's third
quarter portfolio updates, visit its
GuruFocus Stock Picks
summary. You can also view Vanguard's portfolio here, as well as
the the fund's undervalued stocks, top growth companies and high
yield stocks of Vanguard Health Care Fund.About GuruFocus:
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.