Portfolio Profile: Quarter-end Results
By Felicia Landerman, Investment Manager, Clerk & Comptroller
Book yield is the annual rate of return on an investment expressed as a percentage. |
Palm Beach County’s investment portfolio performance is exceeding expectations. The investment portfolio, which is managed by the Clerk & Comptroller’s office, had an overall book yield of 5.01 percent as of March 31, 2007, outperforming the Investment Policy Committee’s benchmark of 4.54 percent. With investments totaling $2.206 billion, the Clerk & Comptroller’s office generated approximately $864,000 in interest income in March.
In an effort to fine-tune the performance analysis of the portfolio vs. relative benchmarks, the Investment Policy Committee chose to adjust the County Investment Policy’s benchmark at its January meeting. The committee changed the measurement of the index (the moving average of the 2-year Constant Maturity Treasury) from a 48-month to a 24-month moving average. As illustrated in the Portfolio vs. New/Old Benchmarks graph, the portfolio’s historical pattern of yield change is more closely matched to the 24-month moving average of the index, although the portfolio is currently outperforming both the 24 and 48 month measurements. The Clerk’s Finance Department continues to monitor the relevance of the benchmark’s measurement period to ensure that it continues to alert us to portfolio performance variations resulting from changing market conditions.
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Felicia Landerman is a Certified Treasury Professional and the Investment Manager for the Clerk & Comptroller’s office. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration.