Markel Group (NYSE:MKL) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Markel Group to a "sell", joining other firms that have trimmed ratings or price targets; the consensus analyst rating is now "Hold" with a $2,025 average target price.
• Markel posted a major quarterly miss — EPS of ($18.90) versus $26.38 expected and revenue of $2.82B versus $3.66B expected — and the shares trade around $1,781 with a $22.29B market cap and a P/E of 12.84.

Markel Group (NYSE:MKL - Get Free Report) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating in a report released on Saturday.

MKL has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Markel Group from a "buy (b)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Brean Capital began coverage on shares of Markel Group in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $2,100.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Markel Group from $2,100.00 to $1,950.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Markel Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Markel Group has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $2,025.00.

Markel Group Price Performance

Markel Group stock opened at $1,781.71 on Friday. Markel Group has a 12-month low of $1,719.41 and a 12-month high of $2,207.59. The stock has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $1,948.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $2,018.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Markel Group (NYSE:MKL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The insurance provider reported ($18.90) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $26.38 by ($45.28). Markel Group had a return on equity of 7.90% and a net margin of 10.85%.The firm had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.66 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Markel Group will post 117.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Markel Group

In other Markel Group news, CEO Simon Wilson sold 100 shares of Markel Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,079.48, for a total transaction of $207,948.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,397 shares in the company, valued at $4,984,513.56. This trade represents a 4.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Canerector Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Markel Group by 191,036.0% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 10,703,616 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $20,458,463,000 after purchasing an additional 10,698,016 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Markel Group by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,172,997 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $2,242,020,000 after purchasing an additional 5,184 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Markel Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 547,188 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,045,947,000 after purchasing an additional 9,496 shares in the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Markel Group by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 415,160 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $892,496,000 after purchasing an additional 41,632 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Markel Group by 75.9% in the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 336,369 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $671,850,000 after purchasing an additional 145,146 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.12% of the company's stock.

About Markel Group

Markel Group NYSE: MKL is a diversified insurance holding company best known for underwriting specialty insurance products. Founded in 1930 and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, the company provides a wide range of commercial property and casualty coverages tailored to niche and hard-to-place risks. Its underwriting operations focus on specialty lines across multiple industries, delivering customized policy structures, program administration, and claims management services for complex exposures.

In addition to primary specialty insurance, Markel operates reinsurance and alternative risk-transfer activities and manages invested assets derived from underwriting float.

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