Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Holdings in Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 132,459 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,468 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.24% of Mercury General worth $7,404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Mercury General by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,670,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $243,983,000 after purchasing an additional 165,629 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,056,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,739,000 after buying an additional 16,299 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,252,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $53,535,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 485,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,294,000 after buying an additional 4,372 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

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th.

Mercury General Stock Performance

Mercury General stock opened at $66.25 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.67 billion, a PE ratio of 12.84 and a beta of 0.96. Mercury General Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.19 and a 1-year high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported ($2.29) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($4.00) by $1.71. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 5.11% and a return on equity of 12.52%. As a group, analysts expect that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 12th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.61%.

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.