Markel Corporation (NYSE: MKL), insurer of specialty properties and real estate, recently acquired Specialized Insurance Inc., which focuses on insurance for service garages at car dealers and gas stations. The move is said to be in keeping with Markel's intentions to grow this sector of it's business. Specialized Insurance Inc. already acted as agent for Markel. Financial details of the acquisition remain undisclosed.

Markel has been in the business of insuring specialty properties and other niche markets since 1930. The company issues policies covering everything from archery ranges and railroads to pollution liabilities and paintball tournaments. The company has net annual cash flow from operating activities in excess of 500 million, but that figure has been in annual decline since 2004.

Markel's major competitors are American International Group Inc.(NYSE: AIG), Chubb Corp. (NYSE: CB), and Travelers Companies Inc. (NYSE: TRV). As a group, shares of the four companies are performing sluggishly with all four holding share value at least 10% below their respective 52-week highs.

Short interest in Markel has been increasing, and is currently at it's highest point since October 1, 2007. Short interest is reported by AOL Money and Finance to be 2% of float. Markel has 9.94 million shares outstanding with an average daily trading volume of 17k shares.

Institutional interest in Markel Corp is 100%, with the greatest interest being held by Ariel Capital Management with a total of 818,641 shares being held by that company at the time of this research. Current analyst sentiment on the stock is a strong hold.

Gary Sattler is a freelance blogger and holds interest in MKL via Vanguard Group Inc.