Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.06, FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 14.77% and a return on equity of 31.98%.

Mercury General Stock Down 12.0%

Shares of NYSE:MCY traded down $12.33 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $90.38. The stock had a trading volume of 258,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 276,014. Mercury General has a 12 month low of $80.42 and a 12 month high of $113.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $102.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.68. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.33 and a beta of 0.93.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 17th will be issued a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 17th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.51%.

Key Mercury General News

Here are the key news stories impacting Mercury General this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Mercury declared a quarterly dividend of $0.3175 per share, payable December 31, 2026, to shareholders of record on December 17. The annualized dividend is $1.27 per share. Quarterly results and dividend announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Operating earnings were $3.49 per diluted share, ahead of analyst estimates cited in reports. Net premiums earned increased 9.6% year over year to about $1.55 billion. Q3 earnings report
• Negative Sentiment: The company posted a GAAP net loss of $13.7 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, versus net income of $280.4 million a year earlier. After-tax realized investment losses of about $206.9 million were the primary drag. Mercury General slips to loss in Q3
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue missed analyst expectations. Operating income per diluted share also fell 9.6% year over year, to $3.49 from $3.86, despite beating consensus estimates. These results may have tempered the positive reaction to the earnings beat. Q3 sales expectations

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MCY. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Strong Buy”.

About Mercury General

Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) is an insurance holding company that writes personal and commercial property and casualty insurance through its subsidiaries. The company is best known for automobile insurance, offering coverage such as liability, collision, comprehensive and uninsured or underinsured motorist protection.

Its product portfolio also includes homeowners, renters, condominium, mobile-home and umbrella insurance, as well as commercial automobile coverage and other related property and casualty products.