Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Stock Holdings Lifted by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,670,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 165,629 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 6.63% of Mercury General worth $243,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Mercury General during the third quarter valued at approximately $13,068,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Mercury General by 94.6% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 304,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $20,276,000 after acquiring an additional 148,301 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Mercury General by 274.8% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 117,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,803,000 after acquiring an additional 86,064 shares during the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 113,005 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after purchasing an additional 52,789 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,595,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of Mercury General stock opened at $50.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.19. Mercury General Co. has a twelve month low of $44.19 and a twelve month high of $80.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is 15.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

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.