The huge investment fund of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been on an unprecedented selling spree.
New filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicate Ensign Peak Advisors — with a portfolio now worth just over $56 billion — sold nearly $5.6 billion in stocks and other equities in the final quarter of 2025, representing about 9% of its overall value.
That unloading followed the quarter before in which the Salt Lake City-based investment-management arm of the global faith liquidated $2.1 billion of its holdings, for a total of $7.7 billion sold within six months.
Those numbers — and especially the final quarterly sales — have far exceeded any prior selling pattern since the once-secretive fund first started disclosing its contents and worth to federal regulators in early 2020.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Analysis shows the multibillion-dollar sales came primarily from Ensign Peak’s 500 largest stock positions, shedding shares in blue chip stocks from some of the world’s largest publicly traded companies.
Those sales — combined with wider market upswings in October, November and December — lowered the total portfolio’s value to $56.6 billion, down from a record high of $60.9 billion the previous quarter.
Ensign Peak still maintains hefty individual holdings, particularly in technology stocks.
Much like the prior quarter, its top holdings at year’s end were $4.3 billion in computer hardware maker Nvidia, and $3.3 billion and $3.1 billion in Microsoft and Apple, respectively.
‘Something is going on’
The Widow’s Mite Report, a website devoted to research and analysis of the faith’s finances via public documents, said the sales pattern was a historic departure over the past six years for Ensign Peak.
A co-founder of the site, whose contributors include unnamed current and former Latter-day Saints with professional backgrounds in finance, business, real estate and law, said that “something is going on that is not routine.”
A key question: Why?
Ensign Peak officials have a long-standing policy of not commenting on the firm’s trading or investment strategies. The church refers to its holdings at Ensign Peak as “a rainy day fund” to buffer against future economic downturns.
A church spokesperson did not respond to a series of questions about the sell-off submitted by The Salt Lake Tribune. He did, however, refer to an online statement about Ensign Peak’s overall approach to investments.
“The church follows the practices taught to its members of preparing and following a budget, avoiding debt, and saving for times of need,” the statement said. “Ensign Peak plays an integral role in the church’s financial stewardship by investing reserve funds and assisting with cash management for both current operations and future needs.
“In managing these assets,” it continued, “Ensign Peak follows established investment guidelines consistent with church policy, and strives to maintain flexibility, discipline, and perspective through market cycles.”
Ensign Peak’s fund is a portion of the Utah-based faith’s immense overall wealth in investments, businesses and landholdings. It represents only the U.S. equities the church holds directly and only those it is required to disclose to regulators.
Widow’s Mite indicates Ensign Peak and a host of third-party funds managed total investments worth about $206 billion at the end of 2025 — all on behalf of a worldwide church with 17.5 million members.
‘Sharp pivot’ or raising cash for a big expenditure?
Widow’s Mite analysts proffered some possible explanations for what they called the fund’s “sharp pivot from U.S. equities.”
The church’s fund managers, the website said, might be showing a negative longer-term outlook on those stocks.
Ensign Peak holds stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds, private equity shares, foreign shares and more — with stakes over recent years in as many as 2,308 separate investments and as few as 1,622.
The latest reports shows 1,685 such holdings, with major tech stocks at the top.
Research also shows that until now, Ensign Peak’s multiyear and consistent investment strategy, broadly speaking, has been to closely mirror the holdings and weighting in the S&P 500 index.
That has shifted with these latest sales, according to Widow’s Mite, with managers allocating the church’s cash “well below those historic ranges.”
Less to disclose publicly?
In another possible explanation, Ensign Peak could be selling assets to move them out of public view.
Under U.S. law, institutional investment managers, including Ensign Peak, are obligated to disclose their holdings to federal regulators — in what are known as a 13F filings — only when the funds they directly control top $100 million in total market value.
But institutional managers such as Ensign Peak are not required to make those same 13F disclosures for funds funneled into outside or third-party investment managers.
By selling assets in large quantities, Widow’s Mite said, Ensign Peak “may be shifting more of its U.S. portfolio to external managers to reduce amounts it must disclose in 13F filings.”
The firm might also simply be moving cash into assets outside Ensign Peak with greater yields or with lower management costs, such as index funds that track the market automatically.
Rainy day vs. big-ticket future spending
Perhaps the most intriguing explanation for the sales is that the faith may need sizable amounts of cash “for a large purchase, new initiative or other urgent use,” Widow’s Mite said.
From its worldwide temple-building campaign to a grand six-month open house planned in 2027 for the reopening of the iconic Salt Lake Temple, there is no shortage of potential speculation as to which potential big-ticket spending items for which the church might need cash.
That’s along with its global charitable and humanitarian efforts, which the church has expanded in recent years.
These large sales also have coincided with major changes in church leadership, though it is unclear if those are at all related.
Former church President Russell M. Nelson died Sept. 27 at his home in Salt Lake City at age 101. His successor, Dallin H. Oaks, succeeded him in October — near the start of the fourth quarter.
W. Christopher Waddell was then announced in mid-November as the church’s new presiding bishop, a position overseeing the faith’s far-reaching financial, real estate, investment and charitable operations.
Waddell replaced Gérald Caussé, who filled a vacancy among on the church’s apostles.
Waddell, who served as Caussé’s counselor and once worked as vice president of investments for Merrill Lynch, sat for an interview regarding Ensign Peak in 2023 for the newsmagazine show “60 Minutes.” In it, he defended the faith’s investment portfolio, describing it as a “rainy day fund.”
“I don’t know if it’s ever becoming excessive because it’s all going to be used at some point,” Waddell said in the show. “We will double the humanitarian work again and then again. We will continue to build temples that require those resources.”
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