What Do Hedge Funds Think of Markel Corporation (MKL)?

A whopping number of 13F filings filed with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been processed by Insider Monkey so that individual investors can look at the overall hedge fund sentiment towards the stocks included in their watchlists. These freshly-submitted public filings disclose money managers’ equity positions as of the end of the three-month period that ended September 30, so let’s proceed with the discussion of the hedge fund sentiment on Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL).

Is Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL) going to take off soon? Money managers are getting more optimistic. The number of long hedge fund bets rose by 9 recently. MKL was in 25 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 16 hedge funds in our database with MKL positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS), Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O), and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) to gather more data points.

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Now, let’s check out the key action surrounding Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL).

What does the smart money think about Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL)?

At Q3’s end, a total of 25 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of 56% from the second quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were boosting their holdings substantially (or already accumulated large positions).

When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Akre Capital Management, managed by Charles Akre, holds the largest position in Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL). Akre Capital Management has a $413.2 million position in the stock, comprising 9.6% of its 13F portfolio. The second most bullish fund manager is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which holds a $70.5 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedge funds and institutional investors that are bullish encompass Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley’s Polar Capital, Robert Joseph Caruso’s Select Equity Group and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates.

As one would reasonably expect, key hedge funds have been driving this bullishness. Segantii Capital, managed by Simon Sadler, created the most valuable position in Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL). Segantii Capital had $2.2 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. George Hall’s Clinton Group also made a $1.4 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with new positions in the stock are Peter Muller’s PDT Partners, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, and Chao Ku’s Nine Chapters Capital Management.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS), Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O), SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), and Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE:CCE). This group of stocks’ market caps match MKL’s market cap.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
CTXS 38 1436235 -1
O 13 93579 1
SNDK 38 1024414 -12
CCE 28 847569 -4

As you can see these stocks had an average of 29.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $850 million. That figure was $783 million in MKL’s case. Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Realty Income Corp (NYSE:O) is the least popular one with only 13 bullish hedge fund positions. Markel Corporation (NYSE:MKL) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. In this regard CTXS might be a better candidate to consider a long position.