Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $100.00.

Mercury General Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of MCY opened at $86.45 on Friday. Mercury General has a fifty-two week low of $47.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.06. The company has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $91.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.42.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The insurance provider reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $1.10. Mercury General had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 9.03%.The firm had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Mercury General will post -0.5 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 12th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 12th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is 13.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCY. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Mercury General by 223.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 18,820 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,596,000 after acquiring an additional 13,004 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 16.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 470,905 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $31,711,000 after purchasing an additional 65,441 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Mercury General during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,141,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Mercury General during the 3rd quarter worth $4,722,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in Mercury General by 27.9% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 63,899 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $4,303,000 after buying an additional 13,937 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Company Profile

Mercury General Corporation is a holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that underwrites and markets property and casualty insurance products through its principal subsidiary, Mercury Insurance Company. Established in 1961, the company has built a reputation for offering a broad range of personal and commercial lines, with a focus on automobile coverage. Mercury General operates in key U.S. markets, deploying a mix of independent agents and direct distribution channels to serve policyholders.

The company’s product portfolio includes personal automobile insurance, homeowners and renters policies, as well as commercial automobile, business liability and umbrella insurance.