13F (Institutional Holdings Report)
A holdings list filed each quarter by institutions managing large sums in the US — it reflects quarter-end positions and becomes public up to 45 days after that quarter ends.
Institutions managing $100 million or more in US-listed stocks → file Form 13F each quarter
A 13F includes only «U.
In plain terms
It's like being shown a photo of a locker taken at the end of the term, about a month and a half later. You can see what's inside, but the photo doesn't show what was put in or taken out during the term.
In the U.S., institutions managing more than $100 million in stocks report «what they hold and how much» to the SEC every quarter. That document is the 13F. News about what Buffett bought usually comes from here too.
It isn't real time, though. Filings are due within 45 days after the quarter ends, so what we see is a single photo of «how things stood at quarter-end», and even that is released well afterward.
It captures only the state on the last day of the quarter. When the buying or selling happened during that quarter is not in the filing, and we see it up to 45 days later still.
What it tells you
Each quarter leaves a record of what an institution newly added and what it trimmed. As those records pile up, you see not a list at one moment but «which direction it is shifting».
Looking across many institutions, you can also count how many of them hold a given stock. Stocklore's 13F tracker lines up the quarterly changes of the institutions it follows in just that way.
Formula
Institutions managing $100 million or more in US-listed stocks → file Form 13F each quarter Basis = holdings as of quarter-end · Deadline = within 45 days after the quarter ends → The list you are looking at shows the state of things "up to 45 days ＋ that quarter (3 months)" ago
What high or low means
A 13F includes only «U.S.-listed stocks that were bought». Short positions, bonds, cash, and foreign stocks are left out. So the 13F reported value is not the entire amount of money that institution manages.
Options are sometimes recorded as the number of underlying shares, so the numbers alone can look like a stock purchase. Puts (a bet on a decline) point the opposite way.
The lag is large. Quarter-end figures are disclosed up to 45 days later, so the holdings you see now reflect a state «up to 45 days ＋ that quarter's three months» ago. They may already have been sold in the meantime.
A 13F does not state «why it was bought». That differs from 13D, which has a box for the purpose. So the reason is something the reader can only infer by tying in other materials.
Amended filings sometimes appear later. Some institutions request confidential treatment and disclose part of their holdings late, so the numbers for the same quarter can change months afterward.
If there is nothing to report for a quarter, an institution may file only a «nothing to report» notice (13F-NT). For such a quarter there is no holdings detail for that institution at all.
The 13F Berkshire Hathaway first filed for the third quarter of 2023 showed a reported value of $313.3 billion. But in an amended filing posted in May 2024 it became $315.0 billion. Holdings that had been screened under a confidential treatment request were added later.
In effect, the numbers for the same quarter changed half a year later. So when looking at a 13F, «is what I'm seeing the final version» becomes a question that comes along with it.
Metrics to read alongside
See it in real stocks
Search US stocks on Stocklore to see 13F alongside the sector benchmark.
This explanation is for information and reference only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investment decisions and their consequences are your own.