Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Bought by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP increased its holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 30.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 85,176 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,989 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.15% of Mercury General worth $5,662,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mercury General by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Mercury General by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 623,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,273,000 after purchasing an additional 15,264 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mercury General by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 192,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,784,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares during the period. Finally, Precision Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth about $424,000. 42.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mercury General Trading Down 8.5 %

NYSE:MCY opened at $50.35 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 5.96 and a beta of 0.81. Mercury General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.19 and a fifty-two week high of $80.72. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $53.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.17.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 15.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on MCY. StockNews.com cut shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Mercury General 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.