Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Reaches New 1-Year High at $53.00

Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $53.00 and last traded at $52.42, with a volume of 21689 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

Mercury General Trading Up 0.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.79 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.13.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The insurance provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 1.17% and a net margin of 2.08%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were issued a $0.317 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 72.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. increased its stake in Mercury General by 21.0% in the third quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 383,735 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,756,000 after purchasing an additional 66,574 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 88.5% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 43,308 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,214,000 after acquiring an additional 20,338 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in Mercury General in the 3rd quarter valued at $304,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in Mercury General in the third quarter valued at $426,000. Finally, Keeley Teton Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the third quarter valued at about $387,000. 42.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.