North Carolina State University Endowment, Raleigh, returned 7.3% for its fiscal year ended June 30, putting it at an historical high of $1.4 billion, a $104 million increase from the previous fiscal year, when it returned 11.4%.
Mary Peloquin-Dodd, interim vice chancellor for finance and administration, said in a letter to university officials that the fiscal year was "characterized by volatility and the end stage of a long economic recovery," and that trying to predict the next market correction "is a recipe for disaster and beyond our abilities."
Instead, Ms. Peloquin-Dodd said, the endowment remains focused on the long term and diversification, "to help ensure that no single class of securities has a disproportionate impact on aggregate performance results." The endowment also has more than 30% liquidity and could be liquidated within a month, she said.
Annualized returns for the three- and five-year periods were 10.3% and 7.6%, respectively, while a 10-year annualized return of 9.4% was generated with 64% less volatility than the S&P 500 index, the letter said.
