Renaissance's $770M Apple Bet — Q1 13F Season

Q1 2026 13F filing deadline is today, May 15. As of May 14, WhaleWisdom had processed 6,956 filings 1. The funds that matter most to retail watchers — Berkshire Hathaway, Pershing Square, Tiger Global, Third Point, Greenlight Capital, Citadel, and Point72, among others — had not yet appeared. Expect those filings to drop throughout today and trickle in over the next 48 hours.

One name that circulated on social media and deserves a flag: Bridgewater Advisors Inc. (filed May 14, $2.57B AUM, 456 stocks) is a separate wealth management firm and has no connection to Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates macro fund (~$23B+ in reported 13F holdings).

Here is a snapshot of every key move covered in today's issue:

Fund / Filer	Ticker	Action	Approx. Size
Renaissance Technologies	AAPL	New position	$770M
Renaissance Technologies	NEM	New position	$181M
Renaissance Technologies	AXP	New position	$165M
Baupost Group (Klarman)	AMZN	Added +47%	$649.5M
Baupost Group	AON	New position	$248.2M
Baupost Group	V	New position	$212.0M
Baupost Group	COLD	Added +124%	$89.2M
Dodge & Cox	SUNB	New position	$3.5B
Dodge & Cox	GE	Reduced −86%	—
Akre Capital	V	Reduced −39%	—
Akre Capital	ORLY	Reduced −42%	—
Akre Capital	CRM / NOW	New positions	—
ShawSpring Partners	ZS	New position	~10.5% of portfolio
ShawSpring Partners	FOUR / MNDY	Exited	—
Capital International	AVGO	Reduced −41%	~$17.5B
Saba Capital	ASA	31.91% stake + deal proposal	$173M cost basis
Cevian Capital	SNN	10.71% stake	$1.29B cost basis
Bill Gates (Cascade)	RSG	Open market buy	$100.5M
RA Capital	ARTV	Added +66%	$75M
FTI Consulting insiders	FCN	Cluster buy (CEO+CFO+CSO)	$2.08M

13F season status: who's filed, who hasn't

This is the first Q1 2026 recap cycle, and the filing calendar matters for reading the data correctly. The May 15 deadline triggers a surge of late filers, so today's picture is still partial 1.

Funds that had filed as of May 14: Renaissance Technologies, Baupost Group, BlackRock (filed May 13), Abrams Capital, Dodge & Cox, Akre Capital, Davis Advisors, First Eagle, First Pacific Advisors, ShawSpring Partners, and ExodusPoint Capital (1,454 stocks across its multi-strategy pods).

Funds with no Q1 2026 filing yet: Berkshire Hathaway, Pershing Square, Tiger Global, Third Point, Greenlight Capital, Appaloosa Management, Soros Fund Management, Citadel, Point72, Elliott Management, Millennium Management, Coatue, Lone Pine, Viking Global, D1 Capital, and Whale Rock. The absence of these names is not a signal — it's calendar mechanics. Watch for their filings to appear on SEC EDGAR, Dataroma, and WhaleWisdom throughout today and Friday.

Biggest Q1 2026 13F moves

Renaissance Technologies opens $770M Apple, plus Newmont and Amex

Renaissance Technologies (CEO Peter Brown, ~$63.9B in 13F securities) entered Q1 2026 as a contrarian Apple buyer 2. The fund opened a new $770 million position in Apple (AAPL) — the largest single new position disclosed so far this filing season among tracked funds — while 3,127 institutions reduced or exited AAPL versus 2,467 that added. Renaissance was building against the consensus.

The timing is noteworthy in hindsight: the AAPL position was accumulated through Q1 2026, ahead of Apple's record fiscal Q2 earnings reported in late April (revenue $111.2B, +17% year-over-year; iPhone $57B; Services $31B) 2. Whether the accumulation reflected fundamental foresight or a quant signal is unknown — Renaissance does not publish its thesis. Apple's forward P/E of approximately 30x is, in the view of some analysts, pricing in a successful Apple Intelligence-driven iPhone upgrade cycle with limited margin of safety 2 — that's an analyst opinion, not a consensus view, and the Q2 earnings print suggests the upgrade thesis is at least partly playing out.

Renaissance also opened a new $180.9 million position in Newmont (NEM) 3 and a new $164.8 million position in American Express (AXP) 2. The NEM entry aligns with the Q1 Energy/materials rotation theme discussed later; the AXP buy adds financial-services exposure alongside consumer spending durability.

Renaissance Technologies opened a $770M Apple position in Q1 2026

Image from: Foreign Policy Journal

Baupost Group: six new positions, Amazon added 47%, Americold more than doubled

Seth Klarman's Baupost Group ended Q1 2026 with a $5.12 billion portfolio across 22 stocks 4. Six new positions were established during the quarter:

New Position	Size	Portfolio Weight
Aon (AON)	$248.2M	4.85%
Visa (V)	$212.0M	4.14%
Teleflex (TFX)	$190.8M	3.73%
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH)	$67.9M	1.33%
Vaxcyte (PCVX)	$46.5M	0.91%
NOW Inc. (DNOW)	$43.2M	0.84%

The biggest existing-position move: Amazon (AMZN) added 47% to $649.5M, making it 12.70% of the portfolio — the largest single holding 4. Americold Realty (COLD) more than doubled (+123.86% to $89.2M), and Ferguson Enterprises (FERG) rose 26.86% to $336.5M (6.58% of portfolio). On the reduction side: Willis Towers Watson (WTW) -34.21%, Liberty Global (LBTYK) -35.85%, and Eagle Materials (EXP) -24.68% 4.

No public investor letter from Klarman was available to explain these moves. The Visa entry is especially interesting given that Akre Capital simultaneously cut its Visa stake by 39% (see below) — two prominent value-oriented funds with opposite takes on the same name in the same quarter.

Dodge & Cox: $3.5B in Sunbelt Rentals, GE Aerospace slashed 86%

Dodge & Cox executed the single largest new position by dollar value captured in this sweep: a $3.5 billion new position in Sunbelt Rentals Holdings (SUNB) 5. The equipment rental sector is effectively a play on infrastructure spending and construction activity — consistent with Dodge & Cox's long-horizon value orientation.

Other notable moves 5:

Microsoft (MSFT) +60.71% (+0.92% portfolio impact)
Arthur J. Gallagher (AJG) +735.23% (+0.77% portfolio impact) — a move of this magnitude typically reflects either a new starter position that was added to aggressively, or a reclassification; the prior position size would be needed to contextualize it fully
Booking Holdings (BKNG) +36.26% (+0.61% portfolio impact)
GE Aerospace (GE) −85.78% (−0.72% portfolio impact) — a near-exit
FedEx (FDX) −35.93% (−1.10% portfolio impact)

Akre Capital: broad compounder selldown, rotates into Salesforce and ServiceNow

Chuck Akre's Akre Capital Management undertook one of the most sweeping Q1 portfolio reshapes among the funds that have filed 5. The fund has long been identified with high-quality compounders (payments networks, auto-parts retailers, data platforms) — and it sold across almost all of them:

Holding	Change	Portfolio Impact
Brookfield Corp (BN)	−36.57%	−6.50pp
Mastercard (MA)	−24.10%	−5.92pp
Visa (V)	−38.77%	−5.13pp
O'Reilly Automotive (ORLY)	−42.17%	−4.28pp
Moody's (MCO)	−28.19%	−3.49pp
Airbnb (ABNB)	−41.42%	−2.97pp
KKR	−17.12%	−2.10pp

The rotation target: new positions in Salesforce (CRM, +2.19% portfolio impact) and ServiceNow (NOW, +1.87% portfolio impact) — both enterprise software platforms. Akre also added to Fair Isaac (FICO) +31.11% (+1.51pp). The shift suggests a pivot from transactional financial infrastructure toward software-driven recurring revenue models. No public commentary from Akre Capital explained the reasoning.

ShawSpring Partners: exits Shift4 and monday.com, bets on Zscaler and Coupang

Dennis Hong's ShawSpring Partners executed a concentrated repositioning 5:

Sold out entirely: Shift4 Payments (FOUR, was 13.62% of portfolio) and monday.com (MNDY, was 7.06%)
New positions: Zscaler (ZS, now 10.51% of portfolio) and Coupang (CPNG, now 6.39%)
Major cuts: Procore (PCOR) −68.20%, CoStar (CSGP) −64.59%, Okta (OKTA) −36.04%
Added: Amazon (AMZN) +57.47% (+5.30pp portfolio impact)

The rotation away from vertical SaaS (Shift4, Procore, CoStar) toward cloud security (Zscaler) and e-commerce infrastructure (Coupang, Amazon) is a meaningful thesis shift. Zscaler is a cloud-native zero-trust security platform (protecting enterprise network access without a traditional perimeter), a segment that has seen accelerated adoption as enterprise workloads move to the cloud.

Aggregate ownership signals: BMY surges, NVDA dips, Energy builds

Beyond individual funds, Holdings Channel's aggregate 13F data across thousands of filers reveals broader capital-allocation patterns for Q1 2026:

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) saw aggregate institutional ownership surge 40.87% quarter-over-quarter — from 428.2 million to 603.2 million shares across 5,653 funds reviewed 6. Top holders: Vanguard Capital Management at 132.3M shares, Vanguard Portfolio Management at 46.2M, and Primecap Management at 25.0M. The breadth of this buying — 5,653 funds, not a handful of concentrated positions — is the signal here. Holdings Channel's analysis noted it likely reflects a combination of new buying, benchmark rebalancing, and value-oriented accumulation 6.

Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) aggregate ownership rose 23.13% QoQ — from 184.0 million to 226.5 million shares across 6,135 funds 7. Top holders: JPMorgan 20.7M, Wells Fargo 18.2M, LPL Financial 15.4M. This aligns directly with Q1's Energy sector +33.8% return driven by Brent crude spiking above 85% on the Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz disruption (approximately 10 million barrels per day of global supply affected) 8.

NVIDIA (NVDA) aggregate ownership fell 4.24% QoQ — from 1.725 billion to 1.652 billion shares across 3,956 funds 9. Top holders remain Bank of New York Mellon (153.8M), Nuveen (140.2M), and Fisher Asset Management (88.6M). Holdings Channel's view: a decline in aggregate 13F share count does not imply a wholesale institutional exit — it can reflect managers trimming oversized gains after NVDA's multi-year run 9. The most visible large-cap tech reduction identified in early Q1 analysis came in Broadcom (AVGO): Capital International Investors cut 57.8 million shares (−40.8%, approximately $17.5 billion) 10 — a single-seller event offset by 2,284 institutions adding AVGO versus 1,964 reducing, indicating broad institutional confidence behind that one large rotation.

Q1 2026 sector performance bar chart showing Energy +33.8%, Consumer Discretionary −10.8%

Image from: Janus Henderson Investors — Q1 2026 sector update

Activist & major stake disclosures (13D / 13G)

Saba Capital / ASA Gold and Precious Metals (ASA): Boaz Weinstein's Saba Capital Management, a closed-end fund activist with a history of pushing for liquidations or management changes, disclosed 5,903,701 shares (31.91%) of ASA Gold (NYSE: ASA) via an amended 13D/A filed May 14 11. Total acquisition cost: approximately $173.3 million. On May 13, Saba submitted a non-binding transaction proposal to ASA's board special committee through advisor Cantor Fitzgerald, structured along US-listed BDC (Business Development Company) fee lines with significant initial fee waivers 11. Saba has not traded ASA shares in the past 60 days, suggesting this proposal has been in development for some time.

Cevian Capital / Smith & Nephew (SNN): Cevian Capital (one of Europe's largest activist investors), filed its amended 13D/A for Smith & Nephew plc (NYSE: SNN) on May 4 disclosing 91,462,095 ordinary shares (10.71%), with a total acquisition cost of approximately $1.286 billion (executed in GBP at a USD/GBP rate of 1.36225) 12. Cevian holds sole voting and dispositive power (full unilateral control over voting and selling decisions, with no shared authority) over all reported shares. The medical devices company has underperformed peers on margins; Cevian's typical playbook targets operational and cost-structure improvements in European industrials and healthcare businesses. No public demands have been disclosed.

Chip Wilson / lululemon athletica (LULU): Lululemon founder Dennis "Chip" Wilson and affiliates filed their 13D/A Amendment No. 20 on May 8, maintaining 9,904,856 shares (8.6%) unchanged 13. On May 6, Wilson published an open shareholder letter characterizing Lululemon as experiencing "value destruction" and advocating for his three nominated director candidates: Laura Gentile, Eric Hirshberg, and Marc Maurer 13. The board vote timeline was not confirmed in available filings.

Trian Fund Management / Wendy's (WEN): Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management holds approximately 31 million shares (>16% stake) of Wendy's (NASDAQ: WEN) per a 13D/A filed February 18, 2026. Multiple media reports as of May 2026 indicate Trian is in discussions with external investors to raise capital for a potential take-private transaction of Wendy's 14. No financing terms or deal structure have been formally announced.

Vivek Ramaswamy / BuzzFeed (BZFD): Ramaswamy filed a 13D on May 14 disclosing a complete exit from BuzzFeed — sold 3,090,779 common shares at an average of $1.56 and 39,000 warrants at an average of $0.04 on May 12, representing approximately 8.6% of outstanding shares 15.

Form 4 insider buys

Bill Gates' Cascade Investment / Republic Services (RSG): On May 11, Cascade Investment purchased 499,150 shares of Republic Services at $201.40/share — approximately $100.5 million on the open market 16. Cascade now holds 110,315,982 RSG shares and is listed as a 10% owner. Republic Services is one of the two dominant US solid-waste management companies; this adds to a long-standing, large existing position.

RA Capital Management / Artiva Biotherapeutics (ARTV): RA Capital (a life sciences-focused hedge fund) purchased 6,510,416 shares at $11.52/share ($75 million) on May 11 16, increasing its stake from 9,853,302 to 16,363,718 shares (+66%). Artiva Biotherapeutics is developing allogeneic NK (natural killer) cell therapies — off-the-shelf cell therapies derived from donor cells rather than a patient's own cells.

FTI Consulting (FCN) cluster buy — CEO, CFO, and CSO on the same day: On May 13, three FTI Consulting executives bought on the open market simultaneously 16:

CEO Steven Gunby: 10,000 shares at $144.17 = $1.44M
CFO Eun Nam: 2,000 shares at $144.17 = $289K
Chief Strategy Officer Paul Linton: 2,400 shares at $144.17 = $346K
Total cluster: ~$2.08M

Multi-executive same-day open market purchases (not options exercises or stock plan grants) are among the strongest insider buy signals — they require coordinated out-of-pocket cash and carry more weight than a single executive transaction.

Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY) and AECOM (ACM): Smaller two-executive clusters on May 14: Jack Henry CEO Gregory Adelson bought 2,000 shares ($267K) and CFO Mimi Carsley bought 375 shares ($50K) 16; AECOM CEO Troy Rudd bought 4,225 shares ($300K) and CFO Gaurav Kapoor bought 1,420 shares ($101K) 16. Both clusters are smaller in absolute terms but follow the same multi-insider pattern.

Berkshire's record cash and the Q1 sector backdrop

The two most important context pieces for reading this season's 13F data:

Berkshire Hathaway's Q1 2026 earnings — still the most-watched institutional filing not yet released — showed the company extended its net equity selling streak to 14 consecutive quarters in Q1 2026. Berkshire bought approximately $15.9 billion in publicly traded stocks and sold approximately $24.1 billion, for a net outflow of roughly $8.2 billion 17. Cash and equivalents reached a record $397.4 billion at March 31, 2026 (adjusted to $380.2 billion excluding Treasury bill payables), representing 31.7% of total assets — also a record proportion 17.

Greg Abel hosted his first annual shareholder meeting as CEO on May 2 under the theme "The Legacy Continues." Warren Buffett, who retained the Chairman title, gave a live CNBC interview from the audience during the meeting. On current conditions, Buffett said: "We've never had people in a more gambling mood than now" and "The most likely time to buy things is when nobody else will answer their phones" 18. Of the five-and-a-half decades he has been investing, Buffett said only about five years have been "really juicy" for deploying capital 18. The implication — that today does not rank among those five years — is the most concise summary of why Berkshire's cash pile keeps growing.

Berkshire's Q1 2026 13F, when it files today, will be one of the most scrutinized releases of the season. The Q4 2025 filing (the most recent available) showed continued Apple reductions (−4.3%, the sixth straight quarter of trimming) and near-liquidation of Amazon (−77.2%), with new positions in The New York Times and Liberty Live 19.

Q1 2026 sector scorecard: The macro environment shaping every portfolio decision in the quarter was severe sector divergence. MSCI ACWI (the benchmark covering 23 developed and 24 emerging-market equity markets) fell 3.1% overall 8:

Sector	Q1 2026 Return
Energy	+33.8%
Utilities	+8.7%
Materials	+6.7%
Consumer Staples	+3.4%
Healthcare	−4.4%
Financials	−6.5%
Technology	−6.7%
Consumer Discretionary	−10.8%

Energy's surge was driven by Brent crude rising over 85% on the Iran conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting approximately 10 million barrels per day of global supply 8. That backdrop explains the XLE aggregate ownership +23.13% and fund rotation patterns visible across multiple 13Fs. Janus Henderson's research team noted Energy tailwinds may persist into Q2 given sustained high commodity prices, though China's longer-term pivot toward alternative energy creates downside risk for oil over a multi-year horizon 8.

Cover image: 2026 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting — "The Legacy Continues." Image from Forbes.