Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $88.54 and last traded at $88.2640, with a volume of 23371 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $86.96.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $90.00) on shares of Mercury General in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Mercury General presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Institutional Trading of Mercury General

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. bought a new position in Mercury General during the 1st quarter worth about $27,485,000. Rubric Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 2,054,504 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $138,350,000 after purchasing an additional 232,721 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Mercury General during the first quarter valued at approximately $12,515,000. Goldentree Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Mercury General in the second quarter worth about $10,935,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 2,513.7% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 157,893 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,633,000 after acquiring an additional 151,852 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $81.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $1.71. Mercury General had a net margin of 6.76% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.49 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be paid a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.02%.

About Mercury General

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.