Mercury General Corporation $MCY Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. reduced its position in Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,095,241 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 31,384 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.06% of Mercury General worth $291,138,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCY. Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Mercury General in the 4th quarter valued at about $280,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Mercury General by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. purchased a new stake in Mercury General in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 18,699 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in Mercury General by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 20,148 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,894,000 after purchasing an additional 4,470 shares during the period. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mercury General has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Mercury General Trading Up 2.1%

MCY opened at $98.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.46 and a beta of 0.92. Mercury General Corporation has a 52 week low of $56.63 and a 52 week high of $100.69. The business’s 50 day moving average is $91.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The insurance provider reported $3.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $1.35. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.46 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 13.68%. On average, research analysts predict that Mercury General Corporation will post 9 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 8.37%.

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.