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Specialty insurance and reinsurance holding company that also owns industrial and other non-insurance businesses (Markel Ventures).
Specialty insurance and reinsurance holding company that also owns industrial and other non-insurance businesses (Markel Ventures).
Specialty insurance, including business written through Lloyd's of London, earns when premiums exceed claims and costs, and the premiums held before claims are paid get invested, largely in shares. Markel Ventures, a group of non-insurance companies bought outright, is a third earnings line, and includes businesses such as Costa Farms, a plant grower.
In one line: A smaller Berkshire Hathaway.
Moat: narrow (process know-how). Long-running specialty-underwriting discipline modeled loosely on Berkshire's insurance-plus-investments structure.
Headquarters: Glen Allen, Virginia, United States · Founded: 1930 · Employees: 22,900
Size Markel (MKL) is a United States Financials company (Property/Casualty Insurance) with a market value of $23.7B, the 443rd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $1,939 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 6.9%, against +17.7% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd lowest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 0.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.7%); the operating margin is 15.3% (peer median 14.7%).
Valuation It trades at 1.28× book value against a peer median of 2.37× (5th cheapest of 20).
Price implies The share price implies a return on equity of about 9.2%; Markel delivers 9.6%, so the price asks less than the business earns today.
Credit Markel has 8 bonds outstanding ($3.65B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like BBB+ at a weighted spread of 100 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 2.3% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 3 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $16.1B | $16.6B | $16.6B | $15.8B | $11.4B |
| Revenue growth | — | 0% | +5% | +38% | — |
| Net income | $1.76B | $2.17B | $2.64B | $2.00B | -$286M |
| Free cash flow | $1.80B | $2.55B | $2.34B | $2.53B | $2.45B |
| Capital expenditure | $251M | $207M | $255M | $259M | $255M |
| Total debt | $4.36B | $5.01B | $5.05B | $4.44B | $4.66B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | ROE | Price / book | Implied ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markel MKL | $23.7B | +7% | -1% | 10% | 1.28× | 9.2% |
| Berkshire Hathaway BRK-B | $1.22T | +20% | +4% | 12% | 1.64× | 10.8% |
| W. R. Berkley WRB | $27.9B | +16% | +1% | 19% | 2.91× | 12.8% |
| RLI RLI | $6.27B | +39% | +6% | 22% | 3.70× | 15.4% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | MKL | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +9.7% | +9.8% | 10th lowest of 20 |
| 6-month return | +6.9% | +17.7% | 3rd lowest of 20 |
| Return on equity | 9.6% | 16.5% | 4th lowest of 20 |
| Price / book | 1.28× | 2.37× | 5th cheapest of 20 |
| Trailing P/E | 13.8× | 12.6× | 9th most expensive of 19 |
| ROE the price implies | 9.2% | 11.3% | 8th least demanding of 20 |
| ROE delivered | 9.6% | 16.5% | 4th lowest of 19 |
| Bond spread | 100 bp | 106 bp | 5th tightest of 12 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | ROE | Price / book | Implied ROE | Delivered ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Markel MKL | United States | $23.7B | +7% | -1% | 10% | 1.28× | 9.2% | 9.6% |
| Loews L | United States | $22.2B | +5% | +3% | 8% | 1.22× | 8.3% | 8.1% |
| QBE Insurance QBE.AX | Australia | $27.7B | +19% | +3% | 19% | 2.37× | 11.3% | 19.1% |
| Sampo SAMPO.HE | Finland | $29.1B | +10% | +2% | 16% | 3.60× | 11.3% | 16.5% |
| SamsungF&MIns 000810.KS | South Korea | $17.2B | +31% | +5% | 8% | 0.71× | 4.8% | 8.1% |
| Admiral ADM.L | United Kingdom | $16.1B | +23% | 0% | 46% | 8.04× | 33.5% | 45.6% |
| Hartford (The) HIG | United States | $35.8B | +1% | +4% | 23% | 1.94× | 11.3% | 22.7% |
| Everest EG | United States | $15.2B | +18% | -9% | 13% | 1.08× | 6.6% | 12.8% |
| Assurant AIZ | United States | $15.1B | +29% | +9% | 44% | 2.60× | 14.6% | 44.2% |
| Insurance Australia IAG.AX | Australia | $14.4B | +17% | +9% | 14% | 2.87× | 13.1% | 14.0% |
| RenaissanceRe RNR | United States | $14.0B | +16% | -21% | 13% | 1.34× | 7.5% | 13.4% |
| Fairfax Financial FFH.TO | Canada | $42.7B | +21% | -1% | 16% | 1.40× | 7.0% | 15.8% |
| American Financial AFG | United States | $12.8B | +18% | +3% | 18% | 2.67× | 15.1% | n/a |
| Erie Indemnity ERIE | United States | $12.7B | +26% | +2% | 24% | 4.98× | 19.7% | 23.7% |
| PICC Property & Casualty 2328.HK | Hong Kong | $48.9B | +16% | +9% | 17% | 1.09× | 5.8% | 16.5% |
| Hanover Insurance THG | United States | $8.35B | +28% | +5% | 22% | 2.43× | 11.2% | 21.8% |
| Scor SCR.PA | France | $6.96B | +10% | -4% | 19% | 1.44× | 9.8% | 18.8% |
| Travelers Companies (The) TRV | United States | $81.0B | +33% | +1% | 28% | 2.79× | 13.9% | 27.5% |
| Definity Financial DFY.TO | Canada | $6.47B | +14% | +35% | 12% | 2.13× | 7.6% | 11.7% |
| Hagerty HGTY | United States | $6.18B | +79% | +1% | 5% | 8.42× | 53.7% | 4.6% |
Markel has 8 bonds outstanding with $3.65B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like BBB+. Weighted yield 6.23%, a spread of 100 bp over government bonds.