Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.84 EPS

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84, Zacks reports. Mercury General had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 18.04%.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCY opened at $50.13 on Wednesday. Mercury General has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $80.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This is a boost from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mercury General news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $83,153.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 35.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 26th. Raymond James raised Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday.

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.