Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $81.78 and last traded at $83.25, with a volume of 91,933 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $84.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mercury General from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mercury General has an average rating of “Buy”.

Mercury General Trading Down 0.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.38 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $101.41 and its 200 day moving average is $98.63. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 0.93.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The insurance provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.06. Mercury General had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 10.47%. The company had revenue of $1.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Mercury General Corporation will post 13.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, December 17th will be given a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 17th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is 10.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the second quarter worth about $35,000. PenderFund Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General during the second quarter worth about $44,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 290.7% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 461 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General during the second quarter worth about $53,000. 42.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mercury General

Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) is an insurance holding company that writes personal and commercial property and casualty insurance through its subsidiaries. The company is best known for automobile insurance, offering coverage such as liability, collision, comprehensive and uninsured or underinsured motorist protection.

Its product portfolio also includes homeowners, renters, condominium, mobile-home and umbrella insurance, as well as commercial automobile coverage and other related property and casualty products.