Jennison Associates LLC Acquires New Holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 13,530 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $852,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mercury General by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,256,765 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $168,049,000 after buying an additional 48,508 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Mercury General by 4.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,999,235 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $106,237,000 after acquiring an additional 88,954 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Mercury General by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 310,333 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $16,491,000 after purchasing an additional 11,242 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 607.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 214,427 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $13,505,000 after purchasing an additional 184,121 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Mercury General during the second quarter worth approximately $8,492,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.39% of the company's stock.

Mercury General Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of MCY traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $77.27. The company had a trading volume of 210,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 282,417. The stock has a market cap of $4.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.66 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.83. Mercury General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.37 and a fifty-two week high of $77.48.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $1.39. Mercury General had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mercury General Co. will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.317 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. Mercury General's payout ratio is 12.59%.

Mercury General Company 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.