Mercury General Corporation $MCY Shares Sold by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC lessened its stake in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,656 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,777 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $1,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $117,723,000 after buying an additional 49,155 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Mercury General by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 168,626 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $9,426,000 after acquiring an additional 18,948 shares during the period. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Mercury General during the 1st quarter worth about $205,000. American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Mercury General during the 2nd quarter valued at about $303,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 108.2% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 58,198 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,253,000 after purchasing an additional 30,244 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Mercury General Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of MCY opened at $89.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 0.97. Mercury General Corporation has a 52 week low of $44.19 and a 52 week high of $95.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $84.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Mercury General had a return on equity of 19.53% and a net margin of 7.55%.The company had revenue of $1.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.49 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

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