About PlainFundData

Our Mission

PlainFundData makes SEC Form 13F institutional ownership data accessible to everyone. We believe that transparency in institutional stock ownership is essential for informed investing and market understanding. Every quarter, institutional investment managers with $100 million or more in assets are required to disclose their long positions to the SEC. This is public information, but it is buried in XML filings that most people cannot easily access or interpret.

Our purpose is to organize, present, and contextualize this data so that individual investors, researchers, journalists, and financial professionals can quickly answer fundamental questions: Who owns what? How have positions changed? Where is institutional money flowing? We present the data without editorial commentary and let users draw their own conclusions.

PlainFundData is not a financial advice service. We do not recommend trades, rate funds, or predict market movements. We are a data portal that makes public government filings more accessible than they would be through the raw SEC EDGAR system.

Data Sources

All data comes directly from SEC EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's filing system. Our primary data source is Form 13F-HR (Institutional Investment Manager Report of Holdings), which institutional managers are required to file quarterly.

  • Form 13F-HR filings: Quarterly reports listing all long equity positions of institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in qualifying assets under management
  • SEC EDGAR EFTS API: Used to discover and download new filings as they become available
  • 13F Information Tables (XML): The detailed holdings data within each filing, including CUSIP identifiers, security names, share counts, and market values
  • EDGAR company data: Filer identification information including CIK numbers, company names, and filing histories

This is public domain US government data. We do not manufacture, modify, or supplement the underlying filing data. We organize and present it for easier consumption and comparison across quarters.

Methodology

Our data processing pipeline follows a structured approach to ensure accuracy and completeness:

Discovery: We query the SEC EDGAR EFTS search API for new 13F-HR filings each quarter. The filing deadline is 45 days after the quarter ends (May 15 for Q1, August 14 for Q2, November 14 for Q3, February 14 for Q4). We begin processing filings as they appear and continue updating as late filers submit their reports.

Extraction: Each 13F filing contains an XML information table listing all reported holdings. We parse these tables to extract the CUSIP identifier, security name, share count, market value, investment discretion type, and voting authority for each position.

Normalization: Security names and CUSIPs are normalized across filings to enable accurate cross-fund and cross-quarter comparisons. Filer names are standardized to resolve variations in how the same institution may appear in different filings.

Change calculation: For each fund-security pair, we calculate quarter-over-quarter changes in shares held and market value. We classify changes as NEW (position initiated), INCREASED, DECREASED, EXITED (position closed), or UNCHANGED. This enables tracking of institutional buying and selling activity.

Concentration scoring: For each security, we calculate an ownership concentration score based on the number of institutional holders, the concentration of ownership among top holders, and the total institutional ownership as a fraction of reported market capitalization.

Data Freshness and Update Schedule

SEC 13F filings are due 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter. Our database is updated as new filings become available on SEC EDGAR. The typical update cycle is:

  • Q1 data (January-March): Available starting mid-May, substantially complete by early June
  • Q2 data (April-June): Available starting mid-August, substantially complete by early September
  • Q3 data (July-September): Available starting mid-November, substantially complete by early December
  • Q4 data (October-December): Available starting mid-February, substantially complete by early March

Because 13F data represents a snapshot of positions at the end of each quarter, the data is inherently backward-looking. Positions shown may have changed significantly between the filing date and the time you view them. This is a fundamental limitation of 13F disclosure and not specific to PlainFundData.

Editorial Independence

Content on PlainFundData is compiled by our editorial team from official source data. Raw data from SEC EDGAR filings (13F, N-CEN, N-PORT) and related public financial datasets is transformed into readable profiles through our editorial pipeline, then validated against the source before publication. The PlainFundData editorial team, operating under Kiznis Studio, is responsible for editorial standards, methodology, and corrections.

We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from fund issuers, investment advisors, broker-dealers, or any covered entity. Our only revenue source is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense — advertisers do not influence which funds or securities we cover or how we present data, and they do not receive preferential placement.

Not investment advice. PlainFundData is informational only. Nothing on this site constitutes investment, tax, or legal advice, and nothing here should be taken as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Limitations and Disclaimer

This data is for informational and educational purposes only. Important limitations to understand:

  • Not investment advice: Nothing on PlainFundData constitutes investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other form of professional advice. Always consult a licensed financial advisor before making investment decisions.
  • Delayed data: 13F filings reflect positions as of the quarter end, filed up to 45 days later. Holdings may have changed significantly since the reporting date.
  • Incomplete picture: 13F filings only cover long equity positions. Short positions, options, derivatives, private holdings, and positions under $200 million in AUM are not reported.
  • Confidential treatment: Some managers obtain confidential treatment from the SEC, allowing them to delay disclosure of certain positions. These holdings will not appear in our data until the confidential treatment period expires.
  • Reporting errors: SEC filings occasionally contain errors in share counts, values, or security identifiers. We present data as filed without attempting to correct potential errors.

Contact

For questions, feedback, or data correction requests, email us at hello@plainfunddata.com. We welcome reports of data discrepancies and suggestions for improving the site.

PlainFundData is not affiliated with the SEC or any government agency. For official filing data, visit SEC EDGAR directly.