Norges Bank Acquires New Shares in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 85,001 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,651,000. Norges Bank owned about 0.15% of Mercury General at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Mercury General by 233.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 133,319 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $8,863,000 after buying an additional 93,283 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter worth about $798,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 79,677 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,297,000 after purchasing an additional 17,370 shares during the period. Sheets Smith Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General during the 4th quarter worth about $1,282,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 4.7% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.39% of the company's stock.

Mercury General Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MCY traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $52.79. 20,791 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 764,893. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $54.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.25 and a beta of 0.81. Mercury General Co. has a 12-month low of $44.19 and a 12-month high of $80.72.

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Mercury General (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. This is a boost from Mercury General's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Mercury General's dividend payout ratio is 15.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on MCY shares. Raymond James raised shares of Mercury General from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered Mercury General from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

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.