Corporate defined benefit plans edged out public pension plans and endowments and foundations in a quarter that saw weak performance overall, Northern Trust data shows.
The median institutional fund in the Northern Trust universe returned -0.8% gross of fees in the third quarter.
Among the various plan types, corporate DB plans posted median returns of -0.7% in for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to public DB plans, which returned a median -1.3%, and endowments and foundations, -0.9%.
Corporate pension plans also posted the highest median annualized return over the five-year period ended Sept. 30 at 10.6%, followed by public plans at 10.5%, and endowments and foundations, 9.4%.
U.S. equities returned a median -0.8% for the quarter, while U.S. fixed income returned a median 0.15%.
Public pension plans had the highest median allocation to U.S. equity at 32.8%, followed by corporate plans at 28%, and foundations and endowments at 19.4%.
The Northern Trust universe consists of about 300 large U.S. institutional plans with combined assets of about $899 billion.
