Legal & General Group Plc Takes Position in Mercury General Corporation $MCY

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 68,918 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,348,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.12% of Mercury General at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCY. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in Mercury General during the second quarter worth $35,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mcguire Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Mercury General by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 506 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Mercury General during the second quarter worth about $78,000. 42.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCY has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mercury General presently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Mercury General Trading Up 2.0%

Mercury General stock opened at $103.10 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $106.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $98.93. Mercury General Corporation has a 52 week low of $74.29 and a 52 week high of $113.06. The stock has a market cap of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 6.09 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.99. Mercury General had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 31.98%. The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Mercury General Corporation will post 12.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 10th will be given a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 10th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is currently 7.51%.

About Mercury General

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.