The SEC Form 13F - is a quarterly reporting form required to be filed by all institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in assets under management;
Congress intended to provide transparency on the holdings of the institutional investors via these filings; to increase public access to information regarding the securities holdings held by institutional investors; was believed that this institutional disclosure program would increase transparency and thus increase investor confidence in the integrity of the United States securities markets.
There are issues with the use of Form 13F for investment guidance as there are problems with the completeness and timeliness of the data.
Form 13F must include the following information:
-the issuer name of all Section 13(f) securities (which should be listed in alphabetical order);
-a description of the class of security listed (e.g., common stock, put/call option, class A shares, convertible debenture);
-the number of shares owned
-the fair market value of the securities listed, as of the end of the calendar quarter.
Form 13F filing is due within 45 days after the end of each quarter of the calendar year.
Who must file:
Institutional investment managers that use the United States mail or interstate commerce when doing their business and that exercise investment discretion over $100 million or more in Section 13(f) securities must file Form 13F.
An institutional investment manager refers to an entity that either invests in, or buys and sells, securities for its own account. For example, banks, insurance companies, and brokers/dealers. So are corporations and pension funds that manage their own investment portfolios. A trustee is an institutional investment manager, but a natural person who exercises investment discretion over his or her own account is not an institutional investment manager..