Delphi Management Inc. MA Takes Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Delphi Management Inc. MA bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 10,653 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $708,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCY. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Mercury General during the 3rd quarter valued at $13,068,000. Phase 2 Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 142.1% during the 3rd quarter. Phase 2 Partners LLC now owns 273,955 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,254,000 after acquiring an additional 160,808 shares during the period. Philadelphia Financial Management of San Francisco LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General during the 3rd quarter valued at $8,243,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 274.8% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 117,381 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,803,000 after acquiring an additional 86,064 shares during the period. Finally, Globeflex Capital L P boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 87.7% during the 4th quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 113,005 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 52,789 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Mercury General Price Performance

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

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last issued its earnings results 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 return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.55%. On average, analysts predict that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. 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 is currently 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.