Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Buys Shares of 12,009 Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 12,009 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $798,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in Mercury General by 12,340.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Mercury General in the third quarter valued at approximately $933,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Mercury General during the third quarter valued at approximately $732,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Mercury General by 463.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 4,261 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Mercury General by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 47,882 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,016,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Mercury General Price Performance

MCY stock opened at $56.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $53.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.30. The stock has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a PE ratio of 6.66 and a beta of 0.80. Mercury General Co. has a one year low of $44.19 and a one year high of $80.72. 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 (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (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%. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. 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 2.26%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is 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.