Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Mercury General Corporation $MCY

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 78,514 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,656,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Mercury General by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,079,735 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $176,311,000 after purchasing an additional 9,278 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Mercury General by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 2,054,504 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $138,350,000 after purchasing an additional 232,721 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mercury General by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 666,783 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $44,907,000 after purchasing an additional 12,728 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Mercury General by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 578,671 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $49,060,000 after purchasing an additional 107,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its stake in Mercury General by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 560,670 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $37,756,000 after purchasing an additional 68,983 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MCY. Wall Street Zen raised Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Mercury General currently has an average rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Mercury General Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Mercury General stock opened at $90.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 9.26 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.26. Mercury General Corporation has a 1 year low of $47.06 and a 1 year high of $100.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The insurance provider reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 20.74% and a net margin of 9.03%. Equities research analysts predict that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 12th will be issued 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 Thursday, March 12th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 13.00%.

Mercury General Profile

Mercury General Corporation is a holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that underwrites and markets property and casualty insurance products through its principal subsidiary, Mercury Insurance Company. Established in 1961, the company has built a reputation for offering a broad range of personal and commercial lines, with a focus on automobile coverage. Mercury General operates in key U.S. markets, deploying a mix of independent agents and direct distribution channels to serve policyholders.

The company’s product portfolio includes personal automobile insurance, homeowners and renters policies, as well as commercial automobile, business liability and umbrella insurance.