Beacon Financial Increases International Exposure

Beacon Financial Strategies increased its position in Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (NASDAQ:VXUS) by 21,624 shares. The trade was worth around $2.04 million, based on average pricing for Q3 2025.

What happened

According to an SEC filing dated October 6, 2025, Beacon Financial Strategies bought 21,624 additional shares of Vanguard Total International Stock ETF during Q3 2025. The transaction brought its total position to 126,033 shares valued at $9.26 million.

What else to know

The post-trade stake is 5.5% of Beacon Financial's reportable assets under management (AUM), placing it outside the fund’s top five holdings

Top holdings after the filing as of September 30, 2025:

• Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF (NYSEMKT:VTI): $32.88 million (19.4% of AUM)
• Dimensional U S Core Equity 2 ETF (NYSEMKT:DFAC): $30.48 million (18.0% of AUM)
• Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond Idx Fd ETF (NYSEMKT: VCSH): $22.78 million (13.4% of AUM)
• Vanguard Value Index Fund ETF (NYSEMKT:VTV): $17.44 million (10.3% of AUM
• Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (NYSEMKT:VEA): $13.61 million (8.0% of AUM)

As of October 3, 2025, shares were priced at $74.66, up 16.4% year-on-year, with a one-year alpha of 1.34 percentage points versus the S&P 500 for the period ending October 5, 2025

ETF overview

Company snapshot

The Vanguard Total International Stock ETF provides investors with comprehensive exposure to international equities by tracking the FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index. VXUS is a broad, market-cap-weighted index that excludes U.S. stocks.

The fund employs a passively managed indexing investment strategy and allows for significant diversification across both developed and emerging markets.

It holds a diversified portfolio of common stocks from developed and emerging markets outside the United States, with holdings weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization.

Foolish take

Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund is strongly weighted towards Europe, emerging markets, and the Pacific. Its top holdings are Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM), Tencent Holdings (SEHK:700), and Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA).

Taken alone, Beacon Financial's purchase of just over $2 million in VXUS only reflects a small percentage of its total assets under management. However, it is worth noting that Beacon also bought an additional $5.55 million in Vanguard Tax Managed Fund FTSE Developed Markets ETF, which is made up of around 90% in international stocks. The two combined now represent 13.5% of its holdings, up from 9.6% in Q2.

This could reflect a wider trend of investors seeking to increase their global exposure and balance their U.S. stock holdings. While the S&P 500 continues to reach new highs, the U.S. dollar index is down almost 9% year-to-date. April's tariff uncertainty has not been forgotten, and concern about concentration in the U.S. equity market is also driving investors to look further afield.

Image source: Getty Images.

Glossary

ETF: Exchange-Traded Fund; a fund traded on stock exchanges, holding a basket of assets like stocks or bonds.

13F reportable AUM: Assets under management that must be disclosed in quarterly SEC Form 13F filings by institutional investment managers.

Alpha: A measure of an investment's performance relative to a benchmark, indicating outperformance or underperformance.

Passively managed: An investment strategy aiming to replicate the performance of a market index, rather than outperform it.

Indexing investment strategy: Investing to match the performance of a specific market index, typically through broad diversification.

Float-adjusted market capitalization: A method of weighting index holdings based on shares available for public trading, excluding insider holdings.

Emerging markets: Countries with developing economies and financial markets that are progressing toward becoming advanced.

Diversification: The practice of spreading investments across various assets to reduce risk.

Total return: The investment's price change plus all dividends and distributions, assuming those payouts are reinvested.

Stake: The amount or percentage of ownership an investor holds in a particular asset or fund.

Reportable AUM: The portion of assets under management that must be reported to regulators, such as in SEC filings.