Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Sold by Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc.

Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. cut its stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 0.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 139,711 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 407 shares during the period. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $8,799,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MCY. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,256,765 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $168,049,000 after buying an additional 48,508 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 4.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,999,235 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $106,237,000 after buying an additional 88,954 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 3.8% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 310,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $16,491,000 after buying an additional 11,242 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 607.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 214,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $13,505,000 after buying an additional 184,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the second quarter valued at approximately $8,492,000. 42.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of Mercury General stock traded up $1.45 on Wednesday, reaching $75.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 36,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,971. The company has a market capitalization of $4.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.32 and a beta of 0.81. Mercury General Co. has a 52-week low of $35.62 and a 52-week high of $76.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $65.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $1.39. Mercury General had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post 6.35 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.317 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 12.59%.

Mercury General 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.