Form 13F
What is form 13f?
Form 13F is a quarterly filing in which large U.S. investment managers disclose the qualifying stock positions they held at quarter end. It is public evidence of professional ownership, reported after the fact.
- Written by
- Suggested Investments Research Team
- Content type
- Reference definition
- Published
- 2026-09-13
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-13
Always historical
Managers report positions as of a quarter end, then file up to 45 days later. A position may already have been sold before you read about it.
An incomplete picture
13F covers only qualifying U.S. securities. Short positions, bonds, foreign listings and cash sit outside it, so the filing is not a manager's full portfolio.
A worked example
A March quarter-end position can legally appear in a filing published in mid-May, describing what was held six weeks earlier.
The mistake people make
Copying a famous manager's disclosed position as though it were current, or treating the filing date as the position date.
How we use it
Ownership Intelligence is 20% of the Suggested Investment Score and is built strictly from disclosure dates, never from position dates, so nothing is scored before it was genuinely public.
Related terms
Sources and methodology
- EDGAR full-text and structured filing data — U.S. Securities and Exchange CommissionPrimary source
- Intelligent Accumulation methodology — Suggested InvestmentsPrimary source
Keep reading
- Investing Glossary
Every investing term we use, defined once and in plain English — from compounding and drawdown to Form 13F and share dilution.
- Compound interest
Compound interest is growth earned on both your original money and on the growth it has already produced. It is the reason long holding periods matter more th
- Dollar-cost averaging
Dollar-cost averaging means investing a fixed amount on a fixed schedule regardless of price. It removes the need to decide when to invest, and it buys more s
- Free cash flow
Free cash flow is the cash a business has left after paying the costs of running and maintaining itself. It is the cash that can fund dividends, buybacks, deb
- Expense ratio
An expense ratio is the annual percentage of your money a fund keeps to run itself. It is deducted from returns quietly, every year, whether the fund performs
- Maximum drawdown
Maximum drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough fall an investment has suffered over a period. It measures the worst stretch an investor would have had to sit
Educational information only. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any investment, and no research measurement removes the risk of loss.