Quadrature Capital Ltd Raises Stock Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Quadrature Capital Ltd increased its stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,710 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,670 shares during the quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Mercury General by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,893,881 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $70,662,000 after purchasing an additional 79,659 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mercury General by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 504,744 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,832,000 after purchasing an additional 14,688 shares during the last quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 66,574 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Mercury General by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 334,377 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,373,000 after purchasing an additional 26,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Mercury General by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 101,585 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,790,000 after purchasing an additional 11,839 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of MCY stock opened at $52.03 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38 and a beta of 0.84. Mercury General Co. has a twelve month low of $27.27 and a twelve month high of $59.89.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.63. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.24 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 4.48% and a return on equity of 9.85%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Mercury General Co. will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This is a boost from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 4th.

Mercury General 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.