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: $51.97 to $52.92
• 50-Day Range: $47.03 to $73.18
• 52-Week Range: $44.19 to $80.72
• Volume: 115,182 shs
• Average Volume: 1.06 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $2.86 billion
• P/E Ratio: 6.13
• Dividend Yield: 2.46%
• Price Target: $80.00
• Consensus Rating: Strong Buy

Mercury General Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Mercury General scored higher than 84% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 161st out of 932 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: 2.0 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Strong Buy

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Mercury General has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: Growing

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Mercury General are expected to grow in the coming year, from ($0.50) to $5.25 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Mercury General is 6.21, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 21.25.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Mercury General is 6.21, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 22.34.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Mercury General has a P/B Ratio of 1.50. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

7.77% 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 3.5, 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 18.39%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Moderate

Dividend Yield

Mercury General pays a meaningful dividend of 2.44%, 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 15.03%. 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 24.19% 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

7.77% 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 3.5, 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 18.39%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.44

News Sentiment

Mercury General has a news sentiment score of 0.44. 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 lower news sentiment than the 0.87 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 5 news articles for Mercury General this week, compared to 4 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 3 people have searched for MCY on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -67% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 4 people have added Mercury General to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -20% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 4.2 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Mercury General insiders have sold 2,236.41% more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $3,559.00 in company stock and sold $83,153.00 in 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 $66.48 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, MCY shares have decreased by 20.7% and is now trading at $52.7060.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Mercury General's earnings last quarter?

Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February, 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 22.54%.

Who are Mercury General's major shareholders?

Mercury General's top institutional investors include Vanguard Group Inc. (6.63%), Dimensional Fund Advisors LP (3.71%), Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC (3.08%) and Renaissance Technologies LLC (2.08%). Insiders that own company stock include Joshua Eric Little, Mark Allan Ribisi, Mark Allan Ribisi and Heidi C Sullivan.
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.

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 12/26 Dividend: 12/12/2024
• Dividend Payable: 12/26/2024
• Last Earnings: 2/11/2025
• Today: 2/21/2025
• Ex-Dividend for 3/27 Dividend: 3/13/2025
• Dividend Payable: 3/27/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 4/29/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

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: 4,200
• Year Founded: 1962

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $80.00
• High Stock Price Target: $80.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $80.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +53.8%
• Consensus Rating: Strong Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 4.00
• Research Coverage: 1 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $8.45
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 6.17
• Forward P/E Ratio: N/A
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $467.95 million
• Net Margins: 8.55%
• Pretax Margin: 10.50%
• Return on Equity: 22.54%
• Return on Assets: 5.04%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.29
• Current Ratio: 0.34
• Quick Ratio: 0.34

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $5.48 billion
• Price / Sales: 0.53
• Cash Flow: $8.52 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 6.11
• Book Value: $35.14 per share
• Price / Book: 1.48

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 55,390,000
• Free Float: 35,726,000
• Market Cap: $2.88 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.85