CalPERS' $174.90B Q4 Blueprint: One Giant Index Core, Then AI Mega-Caps

CalPERS ended 2025Q4 with $174.90B in 13F assets, and the structure is easy to read: a large index anchor in VOO at 11.89%, then a heavy layer of mega-cap growth names led by NVDA, MSFT, and AAPL.

TL;DR

• Canonical AUM: $174.90B in 2025Q4.
• Top concentration: Top-1 is 11.9%; top-5 is 35.4%; top-10 is 47.0%.
• Largest position: VOO at $19.81B and 11.89%.
• Mega-cap stack: NVDA ($14.24B), MSFT ($10.22B), AAPL ($9.89B), GOOGL ($4.81B).
• AUM trend: Rose from $143.11B in ’25 Q1 to $174.90B in ’25 Q4.
• Portfolio shape: Holdings count moved from 1,169 (’24 Q1) to 1,086 (’25 Q4), suggesting gradual consolidation.

Filing Snapshot

Manager: California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS)
Quarter: 2025Q4
Canonical AUM: $174.90B
WhaleScore: 75.75

The key structure: core index + concentrated growth satellites

The top line in this filing is the VOO exposure at $19.81B. Around that core, CalPERS holds outsized single-name allocations to growth leaders: NVIDIA at $14.24B, Microsoft at $10.22B, Apple at $9.89B, and Alphabet Class A at $4.81B.

This two-layer design can make sense for a large pension allocator: the index core keeps broad market tracking characteristics while satellites add targeted return drivers.

What changed through 2024-2025

AUM climbed from $136.35B in ’24 Q2 to $174.90B in ’25 Q4. At the same time, holdings counts trended lower (from 1,169 in ’24 Q1 to 1,086 in ’25 Q4). The read-through is not just market beta tailwind—it also looks like active simplification of the portfolio menu.

How to read this as an individual investor

CalPERS is not behaving like a high-turnover stock picker here. The filing shows a deliberate blend: broad-market foundation plus a handful of large conviction exposures. If you track smart money by risk architecture, this is a textbook core-satellite institutional build.

Related research

• D. E. Shaw’s low-concentration scale-up in Q4 2025
• Vanguard’s Q4 2025 mega-cap reweighting
• Jane Street’s ETF-heavy concentration model

Q&A

What was CalPERS’ 13F AUM in Q4 2025?

CalPERS reported a canonical 13F AUM of $174.90B in 2025Q4.

What is the largest position in CalPERS’ filing?

The largest disclosed holding is VOO at $19.81B, representing 11.89% of the portfolio.

How concentrated is CalPERS in its top holdings?

Top-5 concentration is 35.4% and top-10 concentration is 47.0%, indicating meaningful weight in a limited set of large positions.

Did CalPERS’ AUM trend up during 2025?

Yes. The AUM sequence moved from $143.11B in 2025Q1 to $156.97B in 2025Q2, $167.04B in 2025Q3, and $174.90B in 2025Q4.

Can I treat “NEW position” labels in this data as fresh buys?

Not directly. For large filers these labels can be artifacts in extracted datasets, so they should be validated with dedicated position-change comparisons.