Mercury General Corporation $MCY Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 75.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 65,124 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,071 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.12% of Mercury General worth $6,126,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Mercury General by 58.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 54,312 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,036,000 after purchasing an additional 20,115 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 4.6% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,935 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $891,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Mercury General by 8.5% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 111,327 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $6,223,000 after buying an additional 8,742 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Mercury General by 1.7% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,923 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB bought a new position in Mercury General in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $226,000. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCY has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen raised Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of Mercury General stock opened at $85.98 on Friday. Mercury General Corporation has a 52 week low of $47.06 and a 52 week high of $100.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a PE ratio of 8.80 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $89.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.43.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 17th. The insurance provider reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 9.03% and a return on equity of 20.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 12th were issued a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 12th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.00%.

Mercury General Profile

Mercury General Corporation is a holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that underwrites and markets property and casualty insurance products through its principal subsidiary, Mercury Insurance Company. Established in 1961, the company has built a reputation for offering a broad range of personal and commercial lines, with a focus on automobile coverage. Mercury General operates in key U.S. markets, deploying a mix of independent agents and direct distribution channels to serve policyholders.

The company’s product portfolio includes personal automobile insurance, homeowners and renters policies, as well as commercial automobile, business liability and umbrella insurance.