Royce & Associates LP Acquires New Holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,607 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $639,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Mercury General by 145.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the fourth quarter worth $68,000. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 12,340.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,299 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCY shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Mercury General Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:MCY opened at $55.89 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.50. Mercury General Co. has a 12 month low of $44.19 and a 12 month high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. Analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. This is a boost from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.03%.

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.