GLOSSARY // Fundamentals
Form 13F
A Form 13F is the quarterly SEC filing where institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in qualifying US securities disclose their long equity holdings, due within 45 days of quarter end. It is how the public sees what hedge funds and asset managers actually own.
The limits matter as much as the data. 13Fs show long positions in 13F-eligible securities only: no short positions, no foreign-listed stocks, no entry prices, no timing within the quarter. A position dated March 31 becomes public in mid-May, so the fund may have already sold it. StockTools tracks these whale filings free, so you can follow position changes across quarters without paying for a screener.
A $12B fund's Q1 13F, filed May 14, shows a new 2.1M-share stake in a semiconductor name worth roughly $180M at quarter end. The stock pops 3% on the disclosure. But the filing reflects March 31; the fund could have bought in January at 25% lower prices, trimmed in April, or hedged with options that never appear in the filing.
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Educational only — not financial advice. Definitions simplified for clarity; markets are messier than definitions.