Cardinal Capital 13F (2026 Q1): A Canadian Blue-Chip Book

A 13F that looks like the Toronto exchange

Most US 13F filings are dominated by familiar American names. Cardinal Capital Management's 2026Q1 filing is a striking exception: read down its top holdings and you are looking at a roll call of Canada's blue chips. The roughly $3.71 billion book, concentrated in just 66 positions, is anchored by Suncor Energy, Saputo, Manulife Financial, Pembina Pipeline, TC Energy, CIBC, Royal Bank of Canada, Gildan Activewear, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Sun Life. This is a portfolio built around the pillars of the Canadian economy: energy producers, pipelines, the big chartered banks, and the major life insurers.

That tilt is the defining feature. Canadian blue chips are known for high, dependable dividends and entrenched market positions, the banks operate in a tightly regulated oligopoly, the pipelines own irreplaceable infrastructure, and the energy majors generate substantial cash. For a value-and-income-oriented manager, this is fertile ground: durable franchises with strong payouts, often trading at more modest valuations than their US counterparts.

Concentrated in the pillars of an economy

With 66 positions and the five largest making up a meaningful share of the book, Cardinal expresses real conviction in this Canadian blue-chip thesis. Suncor leads at 6.24%, and the cluster of financials, Manulife, CIBC, Royal Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, and Sun Life, together represents a substantial bet on the Canadian banking and insurance complex. Add the energy-and-pipeline names, Suncor, Pembina, TC Energy, and the portfolio reads as a concentrated wager on Canada's dividend-rich resource and financial economy.

The quarter's standout move

The clearest active decision was a large addition to Sun Life Financial, where the firm increased its share count by 108%, roughly doubling the position. Pembina Pipeline and TC Energy also saw modest adds (+9% and +6%), while CIBC was trimmed by 10% and most of the other large holdings were held essentially flat. The pattern, leaning further into a major life insurer and adding to pipelines while paring one bank, suggests fine-tuning within the Canadian thesis rather than any move away from it. Doubling a position to over 3% of the book is a meaningful vote of confidence in a single name, the kind of decisive sizing a concentrated manager uses to express conviction.

How to read a country-tilted book

A filing this geographically concentrated carries a distinct kind of risk and opportunity. A book anchored in Canadian energy, banks, and insurers will move with Canadian interest rates, commodity prices, the loonie, and the health of that banking system, factors quite different from those driving a typical US portfolio. That makes Cardinal's holdings useful in two ways: as a curated list of high-quality Canadian dividend payers, and as a reminder that geographic concentration is its own variable to weigh. For investors seeking Canadian blue-chip exposure expressed through individual high-conviction names, this filing is a ready-made shortlist. You can explore the full 66-position book, the quarter-over-quarter changes, and the longer history on the Cardinal Capital filer page.