Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $50.26, but opened at $48.60. Mercury General shares last traded at $51.41, with a volume of 826,928 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded 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 note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Mercury General Stock Down 1.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.81. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $53.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.76.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.55%. Analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $0.3175 dividend. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercury General

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth approximately $113,252,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Mercury General by 94.6% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 304,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,276,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares in the last quarter. Western Standard LLC bought a new position in Mercury General during the fourth quarter valued at $9,815,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Mercury General by 88.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 216,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $14,399,000 after buying an additional 101,488 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.