Mercury General (MCY) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company sells its policies through a network of independent agents, insurance agencies, as well as directly through internet sales portals in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. Mercury General Corporation was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $76.76 to $78.01
• 50-Day Range: $62.85 to $78.96
• 52-Week Range: $36.96 to $80.72
• Volume: 271,985 shs
• Average Volume: 236,826 shs
• Market Capitalization: $4.26 billion
• P/E Ratio: 7.62
• Dividend Yield: 1.65%
• Price Target: N/A
• Consensus Rating: N/A

Mercury General Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Mercury General scored higher than 80% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 269th out of 942 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: N/A
• Analyst Rating: N/A

Consensus Rating

There is not enough analysis data for Mercury General.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 8.66%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Mercury General are expected to grow by 8.66% in the coming year, from $6.35 to $6.90 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Mercury General is 7.62, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 128.28.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Mercury General is 7.62, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 38.18.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Mercury General has a P/B Ratio of 2.80. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.94% of the float of Mercury General has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Mercury General has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.8, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Mercury General has recently increased by 18.51%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Mercury General pays a meaningful dividend of 1.64%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Mercury General does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Mercury General is 12.59%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Mercury General will have a dividend payout ratio of 18.41% next year. This indicates that Mercury General will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 2.2 / 5
• Environmental Score: -0.82

Percentage of Shares Shorted

2.94% of the float of Mercury General has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Mercury General has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.8, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Mercury General has recently increased by 18.51%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.21

News Sentiment

Mercury General has a news sentiment score of 1.21. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.83 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 4 news articles for Mercury General this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

6 people have searched for MCY on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 500% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

4 people have added Mercury General to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Mercury General insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

35.50% of the stock of Mercury General is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

42.39% of the stock of Mercury General is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

MCY Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have MCY shares performed this year?

Mercury General's stock was trading at $37.31 at the start of the year. Since then, MCY stock has increased by 106.1% and is now trading at $76.91.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Mercury General's earnings last quarter?

Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October, 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $1.39. The insurance provider had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 10.18% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 18.04%.

Who are Mercury General's major shareholders?

Mercury General's top institutional shareholders include State Street Corp (1.82%), Geode Capital Management LLC (1.13%), Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. (0.82%) and Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. (0.67%).
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Mercury General?

Shares of MCY stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Mercury General own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Mercury General investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), Meta Platforms (META), Arista Networks (ANET), Adobe (ADBE), e.l.f. Beauty (ELF) and Jabil (JBL).

Company Calendar

• Ex-Dividend for 9/26 Dividend: 9/12/2024
• Dividend Payable: 9/26/2024
• Last Earnings: 10/29/2024
• Today: 12/03/2024
• Ex-Dividend for 12/26 Dividend: 12/12/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/26/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2024
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 2/11/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Finance
• Industry: Fire, marine, & casualty insurance
• Sub-Industry: Property & Casualty Insurance
• Current Symbol: NYSE:MCY
• CUSIP: 58940010
• CIK: 64996
• Web: www.mercuryinsurance.com
• Phone: (323) 937-1060
• Fax: 323-857-7116
• Employees: 4,100
• Year Founded: 1962

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $10.09
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 7.62
• Forward P/E Ratio: 12.11
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $96.34 million
• Net Margins: 10.18%
• Pretax Margin: N/A
• Return on Equity: 18.04%
• Return on Assets: 3.96%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.31
• Current Ratio: 0.33
• Quick Ratio: 0.33

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $4.63 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.92
• Cash Flow: N/A
• Price / Cash Flow: N/A
• Book Value: $27.49 per share
• Price / Book: 2.80

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 55,370,000
• Free Float: 35,714,000
• Market Cap: $4.26 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.84