A Form 13F is the quarterly report in which large investment managers list the U.S. stocks they hold. It is public, it sits on SEC EDGAR, and the first time you open one it looks like a wall of codes and long numbers. It is easy to read once you know what each part is for. This guide goes through a real one: the 13F-HR that Berkshire Hathaway filed on August 14, 2026, for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. For the background, our guide to 13F filings covers what the filings are. This article is the walkthrough.
Who has to file a Form 13F, and when?
According to the SEC’s Form 13F FAQ (question 2), any institutional investment manager that exercises investment discretion over $100 million or more in “Section 13(f) securities” must file. The test counts the market value of those securities on the last trading day of any month (question 27), not total assets. Foreign managers file too when they meet the same test and use U.S. interstate commerce (question 4).
The deadline is 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter (Form 13F instructions, general instruction 3). When day 45 lands on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the next business day (SEC’s Form 13F FAQ, question 25). The SEC’s table for 2026 gives May 15, August 14, November 16 and, for the December quarter, February 16, 2027. It grants no extensions (question 26). Berkshire filed its June report on August 14, the 45th day.
Where do you find a 13F on SEC EDGAR?
Search the manager’s name on EDGAR and filter on form type 13F. An original report is a 13F-HR, an amendment is a 13F-HR/A. Berkshire’s latest 13F-HR has two parts: the cover and summary pages, and the information table that lists the holdings. EDGAR shows both as readable pages, and the same data sits in an XML file that software can parse.
What is on the cover page of a Form 13F?
It says who filed, for which period and who signed. Berkshire’s reads: quarter ended 06-30-2026 (EDGAR writes dates month-day-year), Form 13F file number 028-04545 (the SEC’s tracking number for the filer), amendment box not checked, signed by an officer on 08-14-2026.
Check the report type first. Berkshire’s is 13F HOLDINGS REPORT, meaning all of its holdings are in this report. A 13F NOTICE means another manager reports the holdings and there is no table at all, and a 13F COMBINATION REPORT means the holdings are split between managers (Special Instruction 5 of the instructions).
What does the summary page of a 13F tell you?
Three totals and a list. Berkshire reports:
| Field | Berkshire, June 30, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Other included managers | 14 |
| Information table entries | 89 |
| Information table value total | $299,253,556,246 |
The entry total counts rows, not companies. The 89 rows cover 29 different securities, and the next section shows why. The value total is the sum of the value column. We added up the 89 rows and got the same figure, a check you can run on any filing you download.
The list under the totals numbers the other managers whose holdings are included: 14 for Berkshire, among them number 4 (Warren E. Buffett), number 8 (GEICO Corp) and number 11 (National Indemnity Co.). Those numbers come back in the table. A checkbox also flags confidential holdings left out of the public report. In the XML file it is called isConfidentialOmitted, and here it reads false.
How do you read the information table?
The table has eight numbered columns. Here are four real rows from Berkshire’s filing, values in dollars:
| Name of issuer | Title of class | CUSIP | Value | Shares | Other manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMERICAN EXPRESS CO | COM | 025816109 | 50,419,898,471 | 149,061,045 | 4,11 |
| ALPHABET INC | CAP STK CL C | 02079K107 | 9,606,489,032 | 27,188,433 | 4,11 |
| CHUBB LIMITED | COM | H1467J104 | 11,670,066,615 | 34,249,183 | 4,11 |
| APPLE INC | COM | 037833100 | 10,047,736,640 | 34,724,000 | 4,5 |
What each column holds, in the form’s order:
| Column | What it holds | In this filing |
|---|---|---|
| Name of issuer, title of class | The company and the type of security, as on the SEC’s official list | Alphabet has two classes, A and C, with two CUSIPs |
| CUSIP | The nine-character security identifier. Match on it, not on the name | Bank of America is “BANK OF AMER CORP” here and “BANK AMERICA CORP” last quarter, same CUSIP 060505104 |
| Value | Market value at the close of the quarter’s last trading day, rounded to the dollar (to the thousand before 2023) | Coca-Cola’s ten rows add up to 400,000,000 shares and $32,508,000,000, or $81.27 a share |
| Shares or principal amount, SH/PRN | Shares (SH) or a principal amount (PRN, for convertible bonds) | SH on all 89 rows |
| Put/Call | Blank for shares. PUT or CALL for a listed option | Blank on all 89 rows |
| Investment discretion | SOLE, DFND (shared with a parent or subsidiaries) or OTR (shared another way) | DFND on all rows |
| Other manager | Numbers from the summary page list | ”4,11” is Warren E. Buffett and National Indemnity Co. |
| Voting authority | Shares with sole, shared or no voting power | All sole |
One stock can take many rows. The form asks managers to list holdings separately by how discretion is shared and with which other managers (Special Instruction 11). Apple fills 12 rows, one of them the 34,724,000 shares above. Add the 12 and you get 227,917,808 shares valued at $65,950,296,923, about 22% of the table. Summing by CUSIP is the first thing to do with any 13F.
What does a Form 13F not show?
Short positions. The SEC says to leave them out and not to net them against long positions (question 41). Options a manager has written are also left out (question 43).
Stocks listed outside the U.S. Only shares traded on a U.S. exchange or quoted on Nasdaq are reported (question 40).
Cash and most debt. Only securities on the SEC’s Official List of Section 13(f) Securities are reported: mainly U.S.-listed stocks, closed-end funds and ETFs, plus some convertible bonds, options and warrants (question 7). Berkshire’s own 10-Q shows the size of the gap. At June 30, 2026, its insurance and other businesses held $324.9 billion in short-term U.S. Treasury bills and $35.1 billion in cash and equivalents. The whole 13F table is $299.3 billion.
Trade dates and prices. A 13F is a snapshot at quarter end, valued at the closing price (Special Instruction 8). A stock bought in April and sold in May never appears, and you do not see what the manager paid.
Small and confidential positions. A manager may omit a holding under 10,000 shares and $200,000 (Special Instruction 9). It can also ask the SEC to withhold positions for a limited time. The summary page checkbox flags it, and the positions come later in an amendment.
How do you compare two Form 13F quarters?
Open the two filings, here Berkshire’s June report and its March report, and work in four steps:
- Group the rows of each filing by CUSIP and add up the shares.
- Compare share counts, not values. Value moves with the share price. Between the two quarters Berkshire’s table went from $263.1 billion to $299.3 billion, while its Apple, Coca-Cola and American Express share counts did not change.
- Match on CUSIP, never on the name.
- A CUSIP present in only one filing is a new position or an exit.
Berkshire’s net changes in shares between March 31 and June 30, 2026, after summing by CUSIP:
| Security | March 31 | June 30 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabet Class A | 54,249,798 | 78,791,167 | +24,541,369 |
| Alphabet Class C | 3,585,215 | 27,188,433 | +23,603,218 |
| Delta Air Lines | 39,809,456 | 57,320,000 | +17,510,544 |
| Bank of America | 513,624,165 | 483,394,015 | -30,230,150 |
| Kroger | 50,000,000 | 39,000,000 | -11,000,000 |
| Apple | 227,917,808 | 227,917,808 | 0 |
| D.R. Horton | not in the table | 3,564 | new entry |
| Constellation Brands Class A | 632,890 | not in the table | no longer listed |
A net change is all a 13F can tell you. A stock split changes the share count without any trade, and a position opened and closed inside the quarter leaves no trace.
Why does the 45-day gap matter?
A 13F published on August 14 describes positions held on June 30. Anything the manager did in July and early August stays invisible until the next report. That gap is why TrueWallet backtests its wallets with the disclosure delay built in: each position is entered at the close of the first trading session after the filing becomes public, not on the day the manager traded. The Buffett Wallet is reconstructed from Berkshire’s 13F filings, and the Buffett portfolio breakdown shows the result. The same delay exists on the congressional side, measured in what the disclosure delay costs.
A 13F describes what a manager held on one day. It does not say why, and it is not a recommendation.
Frequently asked questions
How do you read a Form 13F?
Start with the cover page to check the period and the report type, then the summary page for the entry count and value total, then the information table. In the table, group the rows by CUSIP and add up the shares, because one stock is often split over several rows. Compare share counts between quarters, not values.
Who has to file a Form 13F?
Any institutional investment manager that exercises investment discretion over $100 million or more in Section 13(f) securities, measured on the last trading day of any month. Foreign managers file too when they meet the same test and use U.S. interstate commerce.
When is a Form 13F due?
45 days after the end of each calendar quarter. If day 45 falls on a weekend or a holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. For the September 2026 quarter the SEC lists Monday, November 16, 2026.
What does a Form 13F not show?
Short positions, stocks listed only outside the U.S., cash, most bonds, the dates and prices of trades, and positions a manager obtained confidential treatment for. It is a snapshot of long positions in U.S.-listed securities at the end of the quarter.
