Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $496,000 Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 13,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $496,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 1,077 shares in the last quarter. GAM Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth approximately $373,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 5,212.5% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,700 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 1,668 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 101,585 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,790,000 after purchasing an additional 11,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Mercury General during the 4th quarter valued at $278,000. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE MCY opened at $53.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.52 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $50.46 and its 200 day moving average is $42.11. Mercury General Co. has a 52 week low of $26.15 and a 52 week high of $57.12.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The insurance provider reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.16 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 1.17%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a $0.317 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday.

Mercury General Company 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.