Aristotle Q1 2026: Adding Williams-Sonoma, Cutting Parker

Aristotle Capital Management runs the kind of portfolio that rarely makes headlines and is all the more useful for it: a $47.78 billion book of high-quality businesses bought at reasonable prices and held through cycles. Its first-quarter 2026 filing is a study in disciplined, low-turnover value investing — the position count barely moved, from 192 to 191, and most of the portfolio sat still. The signal is in the two names that did move: Aristotle raised its Williams-Sonoma stake by 22% while cutting Parker Hannifin by 22%, a quiet rotation from industrials toward consumer retail.

This is the opposite of a momentum book. Where a fast hedge fund reshuffles its largest positions quarter to quarter, Aristotle's edge is patience — a diversified set of durable franchises trimmed and added at the margin rather than overhauled. The reported 13F value eased 4.4% quarter over quarter, from $49.96 billion to $47.78 billion, a decline modest enough to be largely explained by price rather than wholesale selling.

The one clear rotation: retail over industrials

The top of the book frames the quarter's only notable repositioning. Williams-Sonoma, the home-furnishings retailer, became Aristotle's largest position at $2.03 billion (4.25%) after a 22% increase in shares — a conviction add to a high-return, cash-generative consumer business. Directly behind it, Parker Hannifin, the diversified industrial and motion-control manufacturer, was cut 22% to $1.90 billion (3.98%). Taking those two moves together, Aristotle leaned toward consumer quality and away from industrial cyclicality.

The rest of the top tier stayed remarkably stable. Corteva, the agriculture-science company, was trimmed 7% to $1.58 billion, and Amgen was nudged down 6% to $1.08 billion, but those are marginal adjustments. Megacap technology exposure through Alphabet ($1.47 billion) and Microsoft ($1.25 billion) was held roughly flat — Aristotle owns these as quality compounders, not momentum trades, and it left them alone.

A diversified value book

What stands out structurally is how spread out the portfolio is. The top ten holdings account for only about 29% of the book, with the remaining 71% distributed across a long tail — a far more diversified profile than the concentrated growth and hedge-fund portfolios that dominate institutional headlines.

The composition reads like a value investor's checklist of durable, cash-generative businesses across sectors: Capital One ($1.23 billion) in financials, Martin Marietta Materials ($1.15 billion) in aggregates, and Ecolab ($986.5 million) in water and hygiene, alongside a foreign-listed position in the top ten. None of these are bets on a single theme; together they form a portfolio built to compound steadily rather than to capture a particular quarter's narrative.

The AUM arc

Aristotle's reported value has drifted gently lower over the past several quarters rather than swinging.

From a peak of $54.93 billion in the third quarter of 2024, the book has eased to $47.78 billion by the first quarter of 2026 — a gradual decline punctuated by small recoveries, with the position count holding in a tight 190-to-200 range throughout. That steadiness is the point: a value manager whose holdings count barely moves while its reported value drifts with the market is doing exactly what it says on the tin, letting a diversified book of quality businesses ride rather than trading around every headline.

What it signals

For investors who track institutional positioning, Aristotle's first-quarter filing offers a calm counterpoint to the AI-driven churn elsewhere in the data. The single clear signal — adding to Williams-Sonoma while trimming Parker Hannifin — suggests a value manager finding better risk-reward in consumer quality than in industrial cyclicals at current prices. Everything else is patience. The actionable read is less about any one trade than about the discipline itself: when a diversified value book this stable makes a deliberate 22% move in both directions on two names, those are the positions worth understanding.

FAQ

What did Aristotle Capital change in Q1 2026?
Aristotle raised its Williams-Sonoma stake by 22% in share-count terms, making it the largest position, while cutting Parker Hannifin by 22%. Most other top holdings, including Alphabet and Microsoft, were held roughly flat. Reported 13F value eased 4.4% to $47.78 billion.

What is Aristotle Capital's largest holding?
Williams-Sonoma, at $2.03 billion or 4.25% of the portfolio after a 22% increase in shares, followed by Parker Hannifin ($1.90 billion) and Corteva ($1.58 billion).

Is Aristotle a high-turnover fund?
No. Its position count barely changed (192 to 191) and most holdings were unchanged — a hallmark of a low-turnover, diversified value approach that holds quality businesses through cycles rather than trading around quarterly themes.

How big is Aristotle Capital Management?
Aristotle reported about $47.78 billion in 13F assets across 191 positions for the first quarter of 2026, down from $49.96 billion the prior quarter and a peak of $54.93 billion in late 2024.