First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Acquires New Holdings in Markel Group Inc. (NYSE:MKL)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Markel Group Inc. (NYSE:MKL) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 173 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Markel Group by 15.5% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,725 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,232,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Markel Group by 0.6% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,485 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,824,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Markel Group by 7.0% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 336 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $511,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Markel Group by 2.6% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 857 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,299,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Markel Group by 11.5% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 870 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,324,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares during the period. 77.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MKL shares. TD Cowen started coverage on Markel Group in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $1,986.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised Markel Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Markel Group from $1,435.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Markel Group from $1,700.00 to $1,675.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Markel Group from $1,590.00 to $1,600.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $1,651.83.

Markel Group Stock Performance

NYSE MKL opened at $1,550.53 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $1,566.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $1,570.04. Markel Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $1,317.00 and a 1-year high of $1,670.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.94 billion, a PE ratio of 7.15 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.60.

Markel Group (NYSE:MKL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The insurance provider reported $17.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $21.97 by ($4.63). The business had revenue of $3.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. Markel Group had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 10.86%. On average, research analysts predict that Markel Group Inc. will post 91.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Markel Group Profile

Markel Group Inc, a diverse holding company, engages in marketing and underwriting specialty insurance products in the United States, Bermuda, the United Kingdom, and Germany. The company offers general and professional liability, personal lines, marine and energy, specialty programs, and workers' compensation insurance products; and property coverages that include fire, allied lines, and other specialized property coverages, including catastrophe-exposed property risks, such as earthquake and wind.