Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Mercury General Corporation $MCY

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 14.0% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 560,670 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,983 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $37,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCY. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General during the 1st quarter worth $12,515,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 27.3% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 84,299 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,712,000 after acquiring an additional 18,088 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Mercury General by 2.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,105,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $117,723,000 after acquiring an additional 49,155 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General during the first quarter worth about $1,688,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Mercury General by 32.9% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 405,464 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $22,665,000 after purchasing an additional 100,472 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCY has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $90.00) on shares of Mercury General in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCY opened at $93.75 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.59. Mercury General Corporation has a 12 month low of $44.19 and a 12 month high of $95.00.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The insurance provider reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $1.71. The firm had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.49 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 7.55%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 10th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 16.02%.

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.