Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $107.78, but opened at $105.01. Mercury General shares last traded at $103.0480, with a volume of 52,208 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on MCY shares. Wall Street Zen raised Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Two investment 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 price target of $100.00.

Mercury General Stock Up 2.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $5.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.08 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $103.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.28.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The insurance provider reported $3.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $1.35. Mercury General had a return on equity of 32.94% and a net margin of 13.68%.The business had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.46 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mercury General Corporation will post 11.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 8.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercury General

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rubric Capital Management LP lifted its position in Mercury General by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 2,154,504 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,920,000 after acquiring an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Mercury General by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,149,647 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,492,000 after purchasing an additional 46,559 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mercury General by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 408,116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $38,387,000 after purchasing an additional 17,306 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 1.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 346,343 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $22,917,000 after purchasing an additional 6,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park West Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC now owns 329,435 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,987,000 after purchasing an additional 46,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

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.