13F Glossary: CUSIP, AUM, Put/Call and Key Terms

13F filings and institutional-holdings tools use a specific vocabulary. Here are the terms you will meet most often, in plain English.

Filing and identity

• 13F — the quarterly SEC report of an institutional manager's long U.S. equity positions.
• CIK — Central Index Key, the SEC's unique identifier for each filer.
• CUSIP — a nine-character code identifying a specific security. Filings use CUSIPs, which tools map to familiar tickers.

Size and weight

• AUM — assets under management, the total value a manager oversees. On a 13F, the reported total covers only 13(f) securities, not the manager's entire book.
• Portfolio weight — a single position's value as a percentage of the reported portfolio. A high weight signals conviction.
• Position value — the market value of a holding at quarter-end.

Activity and change

• New Position — a holding that did not appear in the prior quarter.
• Increased / Decreased — the share count rose or fell versus last quarter.
• Cleared Out — a position fully sold since the prior filing.
• Cluster buy — the same stock being added by several funds in the same quarter.

Instruments and rights

• Put / Call — options positions. A put often expresses a bearish or hedging view; a call, a bullish or leveraged one.
• Voting authority — whether the manager has sole, shared or no voting power over the shares (sole, shared and no-authority are reported separately).
• Section 13(f) securities — the SEC-designated list of securities that must be reported, mostly U.S. exchange-listed stocks, certain options, ETFs and convertibles.

New to filings altogether? Start with what is a 13F filing.