Wall Street Whale Watching

Major hedge fund managers and investment gurus—the "whales" in the Wall Street seas—are required to notify the Securities and Exchange Commission about their investment moves quarter by quarter.

Many investors pore over these notifications in the belief that the big fish have special insight into what's working and what's not in markets. After all, they became big fish somehow, right?

This past quarter the whales made a number of moves ranging from macro bets to individual stock moves and commodity plays. Some of the more notable moves are categorized and summarized in the following slideshow.

Investors be warned though. Because of reporting lags, the information regarding whale moves is somewhat dated. The first quarter ended March 31. One or all of these money mavens may have already changed their position. And whales aren't always right or may lead you astray. Captain Ahab chased a whale and look where that took him.

By CNBC's Dawn Giel and Robert Hum
Posted 16 May 2013

David Tepper's Appaloosa Management cut its stake by 40.8 percent to 540,000 shares.

George Soros cut his Apple stake to 26,800 shares.

Julian Robertson's Tiger Management eliminated its position.

Tiger Global Management, run by "tiger cub" Chase Coleman, cut stake by 75 percent to 260,000 shares.

Dan Loeb's Third Point acquired 25,000 call options.

David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital nearly doubled its stake to 2.4 million shares.

Soros (left) eliminated positions in JPMorgan (previously held 2.6 million shares), Morgan Stanley (previously held 4.1 million shares).

Soros cut his stake in Citigroup by 7.6M shares.

Appaloosa cut its share stake in JPMorgan by 56.5 percent to 1 million shares.

John Paulson took a stake in Citi of 1 million shares.

Loeb eliminated his position in Morgan Stanley. He previously held 7.75 million shares.

Moore Capital Management, run by Louis Bacon, cut its stake in JPMorgan by 2.05 million shares to 3.01 million shares.

Cut stake in Bank of America by 14 percent to 10.06 million shares.

Eliminated entire stake of 1.89 million shares in Wells Fargo.

Upped stake in Citi by 525,000 shares to 5.22 million shares.

Takes new stake in Morgan Stanley of 4.48 million shares worth $98.61 million.

Leon Cooperman (left) takes new stakes in iShares Silver Trust of 160,000 shares; Market Vectors Gold Miners Index ETF of 152,000 shares (4.5 year low); and SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) of 90,000 shares.

Soros cut stake in the GLD by 12 percent to 530,900 shares and upped stake in gold mining ETF, adding 1.14 million shares to 2.66 million shares.

Paulson's GLD position unchanged, but eliminated entire stake in Barrick Gold (sold all 915,000 shares).

Greenlight took new stake of 1.2 million shares in Hess.

Paulson & Co. took new stake of 2.69 million shares.

Elliott Management, founded by Paul Singer and currently in a battle with the company's management, upped stake by 13.78 million shares to 15 million.

Appaloosa took new stake of 479,500 shares.

Soros cut stake in AIG by 5.96 million shares to 2.89 million.

Jana Partners eliminated stake.

Appaloosa cut stake by 28.6 percent to 4.3 million shares.

Loeb cut stake by 5 million shares.

Highfields Capital Management took new stake in Dell of 22.87 million shares.

Owl Creek Asset Management took new stake of 3.87 million shares.

Moore Capital took new stake of 3.25 million shares.

Farallon Capital Management took new stake of 2.46 million shares.

Tiger Global took a stake of 5.35 million shares.

Elliott took new stake of 2.43 million shares.

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, an activist in the company, maintained its JC Penney stake.

Jana Partners disclosed new stakes in Groupon and Zynga.

Tiger Global eliminated its stake in Pandora.

Cut stake in Yahoo by 11 million shares.

New stake in Hess.

Reduced stake in AIG by 27 percent to 13.5 million shares.

New stake in Starz and Chicago Bridge & Iron.

Berkshire's Biggest Stock Holdings

Upped stake in Apple by 83.5 percent to 2.4 million.

New stake in Oil States International of 2.7 million shares.

Dissolved stake in Yahoo, Google.

Cut stake in Seagate Technologies by 35.6 percent to 5.4 million shares.

Took stake of 5.35 million shares in JC Penney.

Cut Apple stake by 75 percent to 260,000 shares.

Upped stake in News Corp. to 9 million shares from 1.2 million shares.

New stake in Dollar Tree of 2.2 million shares.

Eliminated stake in Pandora, First Solar.

Took stake in Lululemon.

New stake of 24.6 million shares in Zynga.

New stake in Groupon of 21.2 million shares.

Upped stake in Hess by 13.8 million shares.

Initiated stake in JPMorgan of 2.43 million shares.

Cut stake in Delphi by 3.4 million shares (top holding).

Dissolved stake in Murphy Oil.

Cut stake in Alpha Natural Resources by 33 percent.

Took a stake in Citi.

Eliminated stake in Freeport-McMoRan.

New stakes in Prudential, Comcast and CheckPoint Software.

Cut stake in AIG by 28.6 percent to 4.3 million shares.

Cut stake in Apple by 40.8 percent to 540,000 shares.

Cut stake in Citi by 7.3 percent to 8.5 million shares.

Cuts stake in JPMorgan by 56.5 percent to 1 million shares.

Upped stake in Microsoft by 10.6 percent to 3.5 million shares

Upped stake in Qualcomm by 7.6 percent to 3 million shares.

Upped stake in Transocean by 70.6 percent to 2.6 million shares.

Upped stake in General Motors by 6 percent to 5.7 million shares.

Upped stake in SanDisk by 25.8 percent to 1.2 million shares.

Upped stake in Metlife by 36 percent to 4.6 million shares.