Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 14.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,081 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,813 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $936,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCY. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Mercury General by 145.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Mercury General in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Mercury General by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,299 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Mercury General Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:MCY opened at $53.63 on Monday. Mercury General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.19 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a PE ratio of 6.35 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $54.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.30.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share 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 paid a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. This is a boost from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

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.