Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Reaches New 12-Month High at $56.60

Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $56.60 and last traded at $56.23, with a volume of 47935 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $55.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th.

Mercury General Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $49.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.21. The firm has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.78 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The insurance provider reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 1.17% and a net margin of 2.08%. As a group, analysts predict that Mercury General Co. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.317 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mercury General

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,234,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Mercury General by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,893,881 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $70,662,000 after purchasing an additional 79,659 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Mercury General by 255.4% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 96,004 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 68,991 shares during the period. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 21.0% during the 3rd quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 383,735 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,756,000 after acquiring an additional 66,574 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 219.0% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 89,746 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,516,000 after acquiring an additional 61,614 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Company Profile

Mercury General Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in writing personal automobile insurance in the United States. The company also writes homeowners, commercial automobile, commercial property, mechanical protection, and umbrella insurance products. Its automobile insurance products include collision, property damage, bodily injury, comprehensive, personal injury protection, underinsured and uninsured motorist, and other hazards; and homeowners insurance products comprise dwelling, liability, personal property, and other coverages.