Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Mercury General Corporation $MCY

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 14.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 560,670 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 68,983 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned approximately 1.01% of Mercury General worth $37,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mercury General in the first quarter worth $50,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Mercury General during the 1st quarter worth about $141,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in Mercury General by 745.5% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 2,244 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 24.6% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,057 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $171,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the second quarter worth about $219,000. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MCY shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target (up previously 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 assigned a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Mercury General presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and an average price target of $100.00.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of Mercury General stock opened at $88.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $81.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.98. Mercury General Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.19 and a 12 month high of $88.54.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.15 by $1.71. Mercury General had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 6.76%.The business had revenue of $1.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 10th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 16.02%.

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.