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What is an SEC Form 13F?

The short answer

Form 13F is the quarterly report in which investment managers that oversee $100 million or more list the US-listed stocks and some other securities they held on the last day of the quarter.

Official source: SEC Form 13F and its instructions.

Who has to file one

Institutional investment managers, such as hedge funds, mutual fund companies, banks and pension managers, that have investment discretion over at least $100 million in the securities the SEC lists for this purpose. The rule comes from Section 13(f) of the Securities Exchange Act.

When it is filed

Within 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter. That means roughly mid-February, mid-May, mid-August and mid-November, so the picture is always at least a month and a half old.

What it shows

Each position the manager held at the end of the quarter: the company, the type of share, the number of shares and their value
Certain options and convertible bonds that relate to those stocks

What it does not show

Short positions, most bonds, cash and shares of companies outside the US
What the manager traded during the quarter, or when a position was bought
Positions the manager asked the SEC to keep confidential for a time

How to read it

It is a snapshot of one day, published weeks later. A stock that appears can be part of a hedge, and a stock that disappears may have been sold at any point in the quarter. Comparing two quarters shows what changed, not why.

What OQRO does with it

OQRO compares each tracked fund's report with its previous one to show new, added, trimmed and closed positions, and adds up every filer's holdings in a company. Each figure links to the filing.

A real example

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Form 13F-HR for the quarter ended 30 June 2026, filed 14 August 2026.

The cover page reports 89 entries with a total value of 299,253,556,246 dollars, in whole dollars, and 14 other included managers.
The information table has 89 rows. The largest single row is American Express common stock: 149,061,045 shares valued at 50,419,898,471 dollars, attributed to other managers 4 and 11.
Several issuers span more than one row because the table splits holdings by the manager that reports them: Apple appears on 12 rows, which together are valued at 65,950,296,923 dollars.
The filing was made 45 days after quarter end (30 June to 14 August) and carries no trade dates: it is a snapshot of what was held on 30 June.

The filing says what the manager held at the end of the quarter, not when it bought or sold. Comparing two quarters shows what changed between them, and says nothing about the order or price of the trades that did it.

The record: Berkshire Hathaway Form 13F-HR, accession 0001193125-26-352200 (filing index on sec.gov) (opened October 8, 2026)

Common mistakes

Treating a 13F as a record of trades. It is a quarter-end snapshot of long positions, filed up to 45 days later, with no trade dates.
Assuming it shows everything the manager owns. Short positions are not reported and are not netted against long ones; shares of non-US-listed securities are not reported; the list of reportable securities is the SEC's official 13(f) list, which is mostly US exchange-traded stocks, closed-end funds and ETFs.
Assuming all small positions are listed. A manager may leave out a position of fewer than 10,000 shares worth less than $200,000 in aggregate.
Reading the largest row as the largest holding. Rows can be split by manager, so add the rows of one issuer before ranking.
Assuming every fund files. The duty falls on managers with discretion over at least $100 million of 13(f) securities.

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This explains a public filing in plain words. It is not legal or investment advice.