4,492 Shares in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Purchased by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,492 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $299,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCY. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in Mercury General by 145.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Mercury General by 12,340.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Mercury General Stock Performance

Shares of MCY opened at $57.08 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.75 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34. Mercury General Co. has a one year low of $44.19 and a one year high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. This is a positive change from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

Mercury General 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.