Tom Gayner, president and chief investment officer at Markel Corp. (MKL) and president of its subsidiary Markel Corp, continues to shed Union First Market Bankshares (UBSH) in his third reduction this month, according to GuruFocus Real Time Picks. On Feb. 15, the typical long-term holder Gayner reduced another 1.69% of Union First Market Bankshares Corp (UBSH) at the average price of $17.76 that day, as reported in the latest insider filings.

Gayner now owns 2,495,997 shares of UBSH. Since the trade, UBSH stock price has gone up 1.91%. In February alone, Markel Corp, a 10 percent owner, has sold 128,484 UBSH shares to date.

With a portfolio value of $2.4 billion, Markel Gayner Asset Management Corporation lists 102 stocks in a portfolio heavily weighted in financial services, at 27.7%, along with consumer defensive weighted at 18.9%, consumer cyclical at 18%, and technology at 13.5%. Markel’s quarter-over-quarter turnover is 2%.

Markel Corporation (MKL) is a diverse financial holding company that underwrites specialty insurance products and niche markets. Gayner invests in companies that demonstrate profitability, excellent returns, honest management, and reinvestment opportunities. Gayner uses a strategy of value investing and focuses on the fair value of stocks, compared to their market price.

A very impressive self-made man, Gayner has said, “I tend to be a pretty slow seller. There are two reasons… A) I made a mistake, it was wrong, and that usually involves some sort of character judgment I made about the management, being disappointed in some sort of tainted investing that seems inconsistent with what I wanted to see. Or secondly… there are ideas that are just less compelling than a new idea that you might have and you need some money to pay for what you’re buying. Generally speaking… there are huge tax efficiencies for Markel for us to be able to buy and hold something for a long period of time.”

Profitable investments? Yes! Gayner has earned a cumulative return of almost 102% return over the past 10 years. To learn more about how Tom Gayner invests, please read GuruFocus' interview with Mr. Gayner.

Showing consistent revenue growth in every year of the past 10 years, Union First Market Bankshares Corp revenue is ranked lower than 52% of the 634 companies in the industry; for return on capital, Union First Market Bankshares Corp is ranked higher than 55% of the 634 companies in the industry. For the inside scoop on UBSH, see http://www.gurufocus.com/stock/UBSH.

GuruFocus "Real Time Picks" reports the stock purchases and sales that Gurus have made within the prior 2 weeks. The report time lag can be as short as 2 days after the date of the transaction. This feature is for Premium Members only. If you are not a Premium Member, we invite you for a 7-day Free Trial.

What Worked in the Stock Market for Long-Term Investors?

Extensive research has found that the companies with predictable revenues and earnings outperform the market average; they also suffer lower probability of loss. As a matter of fact, this kind of companies are exactly what Warren Buffett wants to buy and hold forever. Please read the research about what worked in the stock market:

Part I: What worked in the market from 1998-2008? Part I: Predictability Rank
Part II: Role of Valuations
Part III: Intrinsic Value, Discounted Cash Flow and Margin of Safety

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