Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Short Interest Update

Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,550,000 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the January 31st total of 2,060,000 shares. Currently, 9.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 709,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Institutional Trading of Mercury General

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the 4th quarter worth about $113,252,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Mercury General in the third quarter worth $13,068,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Mercury General by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,670,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $243,983,000 after purchasing an additional 165,629 shares in the last quarter. Phase 2 Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Mercury General by 142.1% in the third quarter. Phase 2 Partners LLC now owns 273,955 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $17,254,000 after purchasing an additional 160,808 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Mercury General by 94.6% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 304,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $20,276,000 after buying an additional 148,301 shares during the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MCY. Raymond James upgraded Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Mercury General Stock Performance

Shares of Mercury General stock traded up $0.19 on Friday, reaching $53.68. 127,273 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 357,301. Mercury General has a 1-year low of $44.19 and a 1-year high of $80.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.36 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $54.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. As a group, research analysts expect that Mercury General will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $0.3175 dividend. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.03%.

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.