US Bancorp DE Sells 1,813 Shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY)

US Bancorp DE lowered its holdings in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 19.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,729 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 1,813 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $432,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Mercury General by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,056,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $136,739,000 after purchasing an additional 16,299 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the fourth quarter worth approximately $113,252,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the first quarter worth approximately $53,535,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 370,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $24,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 279,271 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $18,566,000 after acquiring an additional 7,177 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCY. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Mercury General in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd.

Mercury General Stock Up 3.4%

NYSE MCY opened at $74.02 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.51 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.27 and a 200-day moving average of $59.53. Mercury General Corporation has a 1-year low of $44.19 and a 1-year high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $2.77. The business had revenue of $1.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.45 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 6.76%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th will be paid a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 11th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 18.04%.

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.