Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Posts Earnings Results

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84, Zacks reports. Mercury General had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 18.04%.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of MCY stock traded down $1.82 on Friday, hitting $54.74. 822,977 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,179,920. The firm has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.43 and a beta of 0.85. Mercury General has a 52 week low of $43.79 and a 52 week high of $80.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. This is an increase from Mercury General's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.59%.

Insider Activity

In other Mercury General news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of Mercury General stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $83,153.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 35.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MCY. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mercury General from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday.

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.