AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 88.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,589 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 101,488 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $14,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MCY. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Mercury General by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Mercury General by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $498,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 192,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,784,000 after purchasing an additional 12,300 shares during the period. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Mercury General during the 4th quarter valued at $424,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Mercury General by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 79,677 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,297,000 after buying an additional 17,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Price Performance

MCY opened at $58.67 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.50. Mercury General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.19 and a fifty-two week high of $80.72. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.94 and a beta of 0.90.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.55%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on MCY shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

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.