A Look At University Endowment ETF Holdings

A recent study by Greenwich Associates confirmed that asset managers, pension funds and assorted other members of the big money or smart money crowd are planning to ratchet up their ETF exposure in the coming years. Among the group of big money managers expected to increase their of exchange traded products are university endowment funds. This is noteworthy news because university endowments control massive amounts of cash. Combined, the Harvard Management Co. and the University of Texas Investment Management Co. manage over $45 billion in assets. Yale University had almost $17 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2010. We could go on, but you get the big picture: University endowments run a lot of money, so let's have a look at some of the ETFs these funds favored as of the end of the first quarter. (Data courtesy of tickerspy.com.) Harvard Loves Emerging Markets Harvard Management sure isn't shy about its affinity for emerging markets ETFs. End-of-first-quarter data show the endowment fund added to stakes in the iShares MSCI Chile Investable Market Index (NYSE:

), the iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund (NYSE:

), the iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (NYSE:

) and the iShares MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index Fund (NYSE:

). While Harvard trimmed its investment in the iShares/FTSE Xinhua China 25 Index Fund (NYSE:

), it also added to positions in the Market Vectors Russia ETF (NYSE:

) and the iPath MSCI India Index ETF (NYSE:

). Yale, Too Yale's endowment fund added to a position in the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSE:

) in the first quarter while maintaining positions in the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (NYSE:

) and the SPDR S&P 500 Trust (NYSE:

), the world's largest ETF by assets. Go Cardinal Stanford University held steady its position in EEM while trimming a bit of its EFA stake in the first quarter, but the school's endowment fund added to positions in the iShares S&P 500 Index Fund (NYSE:

) and the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (NYSE:

). Also on the West Coast, the Regents of the University of California, the endowment for schools such as UCLA and Cal, only held one ETF, the SPDR S&P MidCap 400 Trust (NYSE:

) among its top investments at the end of Q1. Hook 'Em Horns The University of Texas doesn't hold as many ETFs among its top holdings as some of the aforementioned endowments do, but the fund did hold 522,000 shares of EWZ at the end of the first quarter. No Ireland ETFs Here At least not among Notre Dame's top ETF holdings, but the school's endowment added to its stake in the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (NYSE:

) and maintained its investment in the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSE:

) in Q1.