Whale Fund Filings Decoded: What Buffett, Dalio, Griffin, and Simons Revealed in Q4 2025

The February 14 deadline has passed, and the most-watched 13F filings of the quarter are now public. Berkshire Hathaway, Bridgewater Associates, Citadel Advisors, Renaissance Technologies, Pershing Square, Viking Global, and Scion Asset Management (Michael Burry) have all disclosed their Q4 2024 portfolios. Here is what the data reveals — position by position, dollar by dollar.

The Deadline Rush: 8,200 Filings and Counting

As of February 18, 2026, the SEC has received 8,200 13F-HR filings for the quarter ending December 31, 2024, from 8,196 unique institutional investment managers. The combined reported assets exceed $59.4 trillion. The bulk of high-profile filings arrived in the final 48 hours before the February 14 deadline — a pattern consistent with every filing season, as legal teams finalize amendment reviews at the last possible moment.

Berkshire Hathaway: The Apple Selling Stops

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway filed on deadline day with a $267.2 billion 13F portfolio across 112 positions — largely flat from Q3's $266.4 billion. The biggest headline: Berkshire held exactly 300 million Apple shares for the second consecutive quarter, ending a dramatic selling campaign that slashed the position from 905.6 million shares in Q4 2023 to 300 million by Q3 2024.

The stabilization at 300 million shares — still worth $75.1 billion and representing 28.1% of the portfolio — signals Buffett has found his comfort level with Apple after the tax-motivated reduction. Apple remains Berkshire's largest holding by a wide margin.

Bank of America: The Slow Exit Continues

While Apple selling stopped, Bank of America trimming continued. Berkshire reduced BAC from 797.7 million shares (Q3) to 680.2 million shares (Q4), a reduction of 117.4 million shares (-14.7%). This follows the initial cut from 1.03 billion shares in mid-2024. The position remains substantial at $29.9 billion (11.2% of portfolio), but the direction is clear — Buffett is methodically reducing bank exposure.

New Position: Constellation Brands

Berkshire initiated a $1.24 billion position in Constellation Brands (STZ), the beer and spirits company behind Modelo and Corona. At 5.6 million shares, this is a meaningful new bet on the consumer staples sector — fitting Buffett's long-standing preference for brands with pricing power.

Exits: Index ETFs and Ulta Beauty

Berkshire completely exited small positions in VOO ($22.7M), SPY ($22.6M), and Ulta Beauty ($9.4M). These were insignificant relative to the portfolio and likely represented positions managed by Todd Combs or Ted Weschler.

Berkshire's top 5 holdings now account for 71.8% of the entire portfolio: Apple (28.1%), American Express (16.8%), Bank of America (11.2%), Coca-Cola (9.3%), and Chevron (6.4%). This is extreme concentration for a $267 billion portfolio.

Bridgewater Associates: The Big SPY Bet

Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates filed with $21.8 billion in 13F assets, up 23.5% from Q3's $17.7 billion. The most striking move: a 10x increase in SPY holdings, from $480 million to $4.82 billion. This single position now represents 22% of Bridgewater's 13F portfolio.

Bridgewater simultaneously reduced exposure to other broad market ETFs: iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV) fell 25% and iShares Emerging Markets (IEMG) dropped 24%. The shift suggests Bridgewater consolidated its passive equity exposure into SPY while actively reducing emerging market and individual stock positions. Notable individual stock reductions include Meta (-21%), Microsoft (-25%), and Amazon (-23%).

On the buying side, Bridgewater more than doubled PayPal (+111%), significantly increased Vistra Energy (+85%) and McKesson (+54%).

Renaissance Technologies: Palantir Leads, Robinhood Surges

Jim Simons' legendary quant fund reported $67.6 billion across 3,533 positions. The top holding is now Palantir Technologies (PLTR) at $1.72 billion, up 20.6% from Q3 — a significant conviction bet for a fund known for systematic, model-driven allocations.

The most dramatic moves were in momentum names: Robinhood (HOOD) more than doubled (+114%) to $450 million, Spotify surged 82% to $455 million, and Carnival Cruise (CCL) gained 59% to $451 million. Renaissance also increased Gilead Sciences by 40% and Exelixis by 28%.

On the sell side, Renaissance trimmed Novo Nordisk by 27%, Vertex Pharmaceuticals by 26%, and Apple by 19% — showing a clear rotation away from mega-cap healthcare and tech into mid-cap momentum plays.

Pershing Square: Nike Joins the Ultra-Concentrated Playbook

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square filed with $12.6 billion across just 10 positions — one of the most concentrated portfolios among major hedge funds. The new addition: Nike (NKE) at $1.42 billion, representing 11.3% of the portfolio.

Ackman added 2.49 million Nike shares to an entirely new position, betting on a turnaround at the sportswear giant. The rest of the portfolio remained largely intact: Brookfield Corp (15.9%), Restaurant Brands (11.9%), Chipotle (11.8%), Howard Hughes (11.5%), and Alphabet (17.4% combined across GOOG and GOOGL). Notably, Ackman slightly trimmed Hilton Worldwide from Q3.

Viking Global: The Financial Sector Conviction Play

Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global Investors reported $30.9 billion across 86 positions, up 12.6% from Q3. Viking made the boldest sector-level bet among the whale funds: a massive rotation into financial services.

JPMorgan Chase surged from $779 million to $1.79 billion (+130%), becoming Viking's largest position. Charles Schwab exploded from $152 million to $1.08 billion (+615%). Intuit jumped from $180 million to $1.08 billion (+500%), and Comcast rose from $129 million to $744 million (+476%). Viking also initiated entirely new positions in UnitedHealth Group ($961M) and Taiwan Semiconductor ($808M).

This is a decisive bet on the U.S. financial sector and domestic economic strength — a signal that Viking sees continued earnings growth in banking, brokerage, and financial infrastructure.

Michael Burry (Scion): Doubling Down on China

The Big Short investor's Scion Asset Management filed a $77.4 million portfolio — tiny by institutional standards, but closely watched for its contrarian signals. Burry's Q4 portfolio is unambiguous: he is all-in on Chinese internet stocks.

Alibaba (16.4%), Baidu (13.6%), JD.com (13.4%), and PDD Holdings (9.4%) together comprise 53% of the portfolio. Burry trimmed all four positions from Q3 levels but maintained them as core convictions. New additions include Estée Lauder ($7.5M), VF Corp ($4.3M), Magnera Corp ($3.6M), and Oscar Health ($2.7M). He exited Shift4 Payments, Olaplex, and TheRealReal.

The China bet is a classic Burry contrarian play — buying into deep pessimism about Chinese regulatory and economic headwinds, betting the market has over-discounted the risk.

Cross-Whale Convergence: Where Smart Money Agrees

When multiple whale funds independently hold significant positions ($100M+) in the same stock, it constitutes a convergence signal. In Q4 2025, four or more of the tracked whale funds converged on five stocks:

Apple remains the ultimate consensus holding: Berkshire ($75.1B), Citadel, Renaissance, and Bridgewater all hold significant positions. Nvidia draws four whale holders despite each approaching it differently — Renaissance via quant models, Viking and Citadel via fundamental/multi-strategy allocation, and Bridgewater via macro positioning. Alphabet, Amazon, and Visa round out the top convergence stocks, each held by four different whale funds.

Key Takeaways

• Buffett's Apple stability — After cutting 67% over three quarters, the selling has stopped. Berkshire's 300M share position appears to be the new floor.
• Financial sector conviction — Viking's massive rotation into JPMorgan, Schwab, and financials is a directional macro bet on U.S. economic strength.
• Momentum chasing by quants — Renaissance's big additions to Robinhood, Spotify, and Carnival show the systematic models catching momentum trends.
• Bridgewater goes passive — The 10x SPY increase while cutting individual stocks suggests a regime shift in Bridgewater's equity approach.
• Ackman bets on turnarounds — Nike joining the ultra-concentrated Pershing Square portfolio signals conviction in a consumer recovery.
• Burry bets against the crowd — A 53% China allocation is pure contrarian positioning, consistent with Burry's track record of betting on deep value.

Data sourced from SEC EDGAR 13F-HR filings for the quarter ending December 31, 2024. All values reflect positions as of the report date; actual current holdings may differ. 13F filings have a 45-day delay and only cover long equity positions.