Bill Ackman's Trades and Holdings in Q1 2026

Breaking down the stocks Bill Ackman (Pershing Square) bought, sold, and held in Q1 2026, including their holdings at the end of the quarter. All data sourced from Pershing Square's 13F filed on May 15, 2026.

Who are Bill Ackman and Pershing Square?

Pershing Square is a concentrated investment firm founded in 2004 by billionaire investor Bill Ackman. Structured as a closed-ended fund, Pershing Square takes significant but typically non-controlling positions in a small number of large-cap companies. Ackman employs an activist approach, advocating for operational and strategic changes to unlock shareholder value. The firm aims to maximize long-term compound annual growth in intrinsic value per share through high-conviction positions.

Pershingsquareholdings.com
Wikipedia on Bill Ackman
Q1 '26 13F filed with SEC

Holdings in Q1 2026

Current Investment Strategy

Bill Ackman's Pershing Square entered Q1 2026 with its trademark concentrated, activist-style approach intact, running an 11-stock, roughly $13.7 billion portfolio dominated by Brookfield Corp, Amazon and Uber, alongside long-held real-estate and hospitality bets like Howard Hughes, Seaport Entertainment Group and Hertz. The quarter's headline move was a decisive pivot toward "Magnificent Seven" technology, as Ackman built a fresh, roughly $2.1 billion stake in Microsoft—betting on Azure's cloud growth and the value embedded in its OpenAI stake after the shares sold off—while exiting Hilton and trimming other names to fund the shift.

New Investments

Microsoft

Bill Ackman bought $2.09B of Microsoft in Q1 2026. Over the last two reported quarters, the company has delivered consistent high‑teens top‑line growth, with revenue increasing 17% year over year to about $90B in the most recent quarter and 17% to $81.3B in the prior quarter, while operating income in that earlier period rose 21% to $38.3B and operating margin in the latest quarter reached 45.1%, modestly above guidance of 44.7%. Fundamentally the company is still gaining rather than declining, as Microsoft Cloud revenue crossed $51.5B in Q2 (+26% year over year) and Q4 EPS reached $4.74, beating consensus by about 11.8%, even though earlier concerns about slowing Azure growth and elevated AI‑driven capital spending weighed on the stock after the Q2 print. Key recent drivers that can support further value creation over the next year include a commercial remaining performance obligation of $625B (+110% year over year), shareholder returns of $12.7B via dividends and buybacks in Q2 (+32% year over year), and an AI business that has already reached a $13B annual revenue run rate (+175% year over year), all pointing to durable demand for the company’s cloud and AI offerings even as it optimizes its growth‑to‑spending profile.

• Most recent quarter revenue was about $90.0B, up 17% year over year, with operating margin at 45.1% versus guidance of roughly 44.7%..
• Prior quarter revenue was $81.3B (+17% y/y), operating income rose 21% to $38.3B, Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $51.5B (+26% y/y), and commercial remaining performance obligation increased 110% to $625B..
• Q4 EPS of $4.74 beat analyst estimates by about 11.79%, while Q2 GAAP EPS of $5.16 grew 60% year over year and non‑GAAP EPS of $4.14 increased 24%..

Added, Trimmed, and Exited

Added

Pershing Square increased its stake in Amazon, adding roughly 1.84 million shares (+19.2% share count), bringing the position's value to approximately $2.39B.
What it means: This add signals continued conviction in Amazon even as the position modestly outperformed (+7.5% return) during the quarter. Rather than trimming into strength, Ackman appears to be sizing up one of his core holdings, suggesting he sees further upside in the company's fundamentals rather than treating the recent gain as a reason to take profits.

Trimmed

Several positions saw share reductions this quarter: Alphabet was slashed dramatically, with shares falling from 6.16 million to just 311,726 (a ~95% reduction), while smaller trims were made to Brookfield (-1.7 million shares), Uber (-249,000 shares), Restaurant Brands (-221,290 shares), and Meta (-12,708 shares).
What it means: The near-total exit from Alphabet is the standout move here, effectively functioning as a de facto exit despite technically remaining a position—this suggests either profit-taking after a run-up, a reallocation of capital toward higher-conviction ideas like the new Microsoft stake, or a shift in view on the stock's risk/reward. The smaller trims across Brookfield, Uber, Restaurant Brands, and Meta appear more like routine portfolio rebalancing rather than a loss of conviction, especially since Restaurant Brands still posted a positive return despite the share reduction. Collectively, these trims—especially the large Alphabet sale—likely helped fund the significant new $2.09B investment in Microsoft.

Exited

Pershing Square fully liquidated its position in Hilton, selling all 3,028,664 shares worth approximately $870M.
What it means: Fully exiting Hilton suggests either a change in thesis on the lodging sector or a strategic decision to concentrate capital into fewer, higher-conviction positions—consistent with Pershing Square's known style of running a concentrated portfolio. Combined with the near-exit from Alphabet and the fresh large bet on Microsoft, this points to meaningful portfolio reshuffling this quarter, with capital rotating from legacy holdings into new opportunities the firm sees as more compelling.

Disclaimer: All posts are for informational purposes only. They are NOT a recommendation to buy or sell the securities discussed. Please do your own research and due diligence before investing your money.