Duke endowment posts -1% return for fiscal year

Duke University's $11.6 billion endowment reported a net return of -1% for the fiscal year ended June 30.

DUMAC, Durham, N.C., which manages the endowment and other long-term investment assets, also reported the endowment returned an annualized 9.8% for the 10 years ended June 30.

Benchmark information and asset class returns were not provided in a report on the endowment's website.

The endowment had returned a net -1.5% for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, when most endowment funds saw a negative fiscal-year return.

For the most recent fiscal year, of the 10 university endowments whose returns have been tracked by Pensions & Investments as of Oct. 5, the Duke University endowment is the first to report a negative return.

For the year ended June 30, the Russell 3000 and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond indexes returned 19% and -0.2%, respectively, in sharp contrast to their respective returns of -13.9% and -10.3% for the year ended June 30, 2022.

Actual allocation information as of June 30 was not provided. The endowment's long-term target allocation is 57% equity (both public and private), 13% residual (absolute return), 9% each for commodities and credit (corporate bonds, bank debt, asset-backed securities and sovereign debt), 7% real estate, 4% rates (public fixed income) and 2% inflation-linked assets.

A university spokesperson could not be immediately reached for further information.