Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Sold by Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc.

Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 89.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,157 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 124,554 shares during the period. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $1,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCY. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 16,345 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,087,000 after buying an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Mercury General by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,056,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,739,000 after purchasing an additional 16,299 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 154.5% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 104,672 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $6,959,000 after purchasing an additional 63,551 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General in the fourth quarter worth about $257,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 27,238 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,811,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Stock Up 0.8 %

Mercury General stock opened at $53.63 on Friday. Mercury General Co. has a 52 week low of $44.19 and a 52 week high of $80.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.35 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $54.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This is a positive change from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.