Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. Has $483,000 Holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. cut its position in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,263 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 808 shares during the period. Wittenberg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Mercury General by 145.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Mercury General during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Mercury General in the fourth quarter worth $68,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Mercury General by 58.6% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,299 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered 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 boosted their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Mercury General Trading Down 2.4 %

Mercury General stock opened at $55.02 on Friday. Mercury General Co. has a 52 week low of $44.19 and a 52 week high of $80.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a PE ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 0.81. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.23.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last issued 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%. Equities research 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 given a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. This is a positive change from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.03%.

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.