The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust's latest 13F filing with the SEC, covering the quarter ended March 31, 2026, shows a portfolio valued at roughly $31.67 billion across 22 total holdings — with the trust making no new stock purchases and maintaining a highly concentrated top-five lineup.
The Top 5 Holdings
As of the March 31, 2026 filing, the trust's top five positions were: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) at 25.80% of the portfolio, Waste Management Inc. (WM) at 20.06%, Canadian National Railway Co. (CNI) at 16.82%, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) at 14.22%, and Deere & Co. (DE) at 6.33%. Together, these five positions account for roughly 83% of the trust's total disclosed equity holdings, underscoring how concentrated the portfolio remains around a small handful of blue-chip, dividend-paying names.
An Important Caveat on Performance Claims
I want to flag directly: I could not verify a claim that these holdings "surged up to 55% YTD" in 2026. One financial data source I found indicates Berkshire Hathaway — the trust's largest holding — was actually down roughly 4% year-to-date as of May 2026, coinciding with the company's leadership transition to new CEO Greg Abel. If you have a specific source for the 55% figure, I'd be glad to revise this piece to match it accurately; I don't want to present unverified performance numbers as fact.
The Portfolio's Investment Philosophy
The trust, managed primarily through Cascade Investment LLC under longtime chief investment officer Michael Larson, generally follows a Warren Buffett-style approach: durable competitive advantages, strong management, and predictable earnings over speculative growth bets. That's reflected in the makeup of the top five — a mix of a diversified holding company (Berkshire), essential infrastructure and services businesses (Waste Management, Canadian National Railway), and industrial/agricultural equipment makers (Caterpillar, Deere) tied to long-term global infrastructure and food-security trends.
A Notably Quiet Quarter
The Q1 2026 filing showed a 0% turnover rate in Gates's top holdings specifically, with the trust making no new stock purchases during the quarter — consistent with the fund's historically low-turnover, buy-and-hold strategy. This follows a more active Q3 2025, when the trust notably cut its Microsoft stake by 65% and exited positions in Crown Castle and United Parcel Service entirely.
What's Next
The trust's next 13F filing, covering the quarter ended June 30, 2026, will offer the next look at whether these top holdings and their relative weightings have shifted. Given the fund's consistently low turnover in recent quarters, significant changes to the top-five lineup would be somewhat out of character based on recent filing history.