70 New Positions At Wellington, 41 At Capital World: The Q4 2025 Whale Rotation Scoreboard

Marcus Chen

The most useful 2025Q4 question was not just who owned the biggest stocks. It was which large managers rotated the hardest beneath the surface. This scoreboard compares four major 13F portfolios side by side.

The best way to misread 13F season is to stop at the biggest holdings. In 2025Q4, the more revealing question was which large managers rotated hardest beneath the surface. Wellington Management Group opened 70 new positions and exited 70. Capital World Investors opened 41 and exited 41. Capital International Investors posted 39 new positions, while Capital Research Global Investors still managed 32 despite a quieter top-line quarter.

  • Most aggressive rotator: Wellington led the group with 70 new positions and 70 exits.
  • Strongest AUM growth: Capital International Investors delivered the biggest quarter-over-quarter AUM increase at +3.0%.
  • Tightest concentration: CRGI had the highest top-five concentration at 26.7%.
  • Most deceptive headline: Wellington's AUM was almost flat, but its turnover was the largest in the set.

Why The Rotation Scoreboard Matters

Investors often equate AUM change with conviction change. That shortcut fails in cross-fund work. A manager can post a small AUM move and still rewrite a large share of its opportunity set. Another manager can post a bigger asset increase while leaving the portfolio's internal hierarchy mostly intact. The scoreboard is useful precisely because it separates those ideas.

In this group, Wellington is the cleanest example. The quarter-over-quarter AUM change was only -0.1%, yet the portfolio churned through 140 position actions when new positions and exits are counted together. That is a much more active quarter than the headline would suggest.

New Positions By Fund — 2025Q4

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Rotation Can Be Broad, Focused, Or Hidden

Capital World combined broad turnover with aggressive adds to Netflix. Capital International used a higher-growth quarter to add names such as Bank of America and Caterpillar without dislodging Broadcom from the top spot. CRGI looked calmer by count, yet still produced one of the sharpest Netflix buildouts in the set. Wellington paired its massive turnover with large changes in DoorDash and Netflix.

That is why a raw count is only the starting point. Rotation becomes more meaningful when you see whether it arrived with AUM growth, shrinking concentration, or fresh conviction in specific names.

Quarter-Over-Quarter AUM Change By Fund — 2025Q4 (%)

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Concentration Changes The Interpretation

The top-five concentration numbers add another layer. CRGI carried the tightest top end at 26.7%, which means its 32 new positions happened under a relatively concentrated core. Capital World and Wellington both sat near 20%, making their rotation easier to read as broad portfolio management rather than one-stock dependency. Capital International landed in between with a more anchored structure around Broadcom and Microsoft.

That distinction matters because not all rotation means the same thing. Heavy turnover in a concentrated portfolio can signal sharpening conviction around a few core names. Heavy turnover in a looser portfolio can signal idea harvesting across many sectors. Both matter, but they say different things about how a manager is taking risk.

Top-Five Concentration By Fund — 2025Q4

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What Investors Should Learn From This

The scoreboard turns filing season into a better screening tool. Instead of starting with whichever stock had the biggest media headline, investors can start with which funds changed the most and then inspect where those changes landed. That is often where the genuinely useful follow-up work begins.

For 2025Q4, the cleanest takeaway is that the big managers were still rotating actively even when their largest holdings stayed familiar. That is why reading the bottom half of a 13F can sometimes be more useful than reading the top line.

Questions Investors Are Likely To Ask

Which manager rotated the hardest in 2025Q4?

Wellington Management Group rotated the hardest by count, with 70 new positions and 70 exits.

Did the largest rotation come with the largest AUM change?

No. Wellington's AUM was almost flat, which shows why turnover and AUM should be tracked separately.

Why does top-five concentration belong in a rotation article?

Because it tells you whether turnover happened beneath a tightly held core or inside a more evenly spread portfolio.

How should investors use this scoreboard?

Use it to decide which filings deserve deeper reading before you chase any individual ticker that happened to move during the quarter.

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