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If you want to see where “big money” is flowing, then watch for the 13F data due this month. The SEC mandates any investment firm that manages more than $100 million to say what they own and how much they own at the end of each quarter. The 13F disclosures from institutional investors, mutual and pension fund companies, and influential stock holders are rich with information. HOWEVER, it’s still really difficult for individual investors to get an inside view. Here’s what you will and won’t get from November’s disclosures, and how many EDGAR Pro and I•Metrix users mine the information in Institutional Investor Data Feeds.

What you will get in 13F disclosures is a snapshot of holdings on the close of a quarter. What you can’t see is the buying and selling activity that took place during the quarter.

That means that even if an investment firm bought and sold Google three times in the past few months, if they didn’t own it before or at the 13F snapshot, you would not find any mention of Google in their disclosures. Even for the holdings that are listed, the lag time between a purchase and its public disclosure could be as long as four and half months!

So what is the value of 13F data?

13F data gives a high-level view on the general economy and on industry sector trends. It is a measure of confidence/risk in various markets and can shed light on individual investments.

• For tracking larger trends, researcher and analysts may look at 13F data to see how many big investors are buying or getting rid of stocks connected to, for example, new home construction.
• For analyzing institutional investment firms, historical data indicates a firm’s investment philosophy and shows their track record. Do they buy and hold, or are they more volatile? Are they stockpiling a particular commodity? Are they getting out of or into an industry sector?
• Individual investors use 13F data to see where “people in the know” are putting their money. Detective work can be done two ways: by looking at big money firms, or by looking at the stock holders of individual company.

In the example below, using I•Metrix, we see that Home Depot’s institutional ownership is nearly 80%, indicating that this company’s stock, and perhaps this type of company, is valued by major investors.

You can click on Home Depot’s investors, for example, Legg Mason, and gain an understanding of their overall positions, how much activity they had throughout the month, as well as their holdings by sector.

You can continue to drill down to see holdings by industry; clicking further will show you each individual company being invested in.

Why not just get Warren Buffet’s 13F data? Unfortunately, you can’t just follow Warren Buffet to the bank. The actions of this enormously successful investor are watched so closely that huge numbers of investors would immediately do the same, skewing the capital market and the entire world’s economy. Therefore, the SEC gives Mr. Buffet an enormous exception: he is allowed to report his investment activity six months after the regular deadline.

Click here to learn more about customized data feeds for your company.

Download the 13F data feeds brochure.