Terms Of The Trade: 13G Filings

A 13G filing is the SEC filing in which shareholders or investors in a publicly-traded company must disclose a stake of more than 5 percent in that company's shares of common stock.

A shareholder filing a 13G is commonly referred to as a "passive" investor. The passivity of the filing indicates the shareholder may have a notable stake in the company, but does not wish to engage the company's management in discussions for change, which that investor views as material to the company's operations.

Unlike a 13D filing, a shareholder filing under the 13G schedule may not have so-called activist activities with the company's management.

How To Use 13G Filings In Your Trading Strategy

Many of the SEC filings via the Commission's EDGAR database are extremely useful; this can be especially true when it comes to the fair disclosure of large investors' holdings.

Related Link: What Is An Options Sweep?

13G filings can keep an investor up-to-date on which of Wall Street's most notable players are interested in what holdings. In addition to following 13G and 13D filings related to the stocks investors are interested in, market players can also follow their favorite investors most recent positions.

How To Find 13G Filings

1. Visit the SEC's EDGAR site at https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html.
2. Type in the name of the stock or investor to be tracked in the "Company Name" search box. Try to get as close as possible to the exact full name of the company.
3. Find the correct company by looking in the Company column on the next page and click on the corresponding numbers located in the CIK column.
4. Find the right filing by look at the Form type in the Filings column on the next page and click on the link in the Format column. This link will appear as a bubble with the word "Documents" in the center.
5. Click on the top link under the Document column. It will likely have extension ".htm" at the end.
6. You've reached the 13G filing!

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