D.A. Davidson & CO. Lowers Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

D.A. Davidson & CO. cut its holdings in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 12.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 47,969 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 6,657 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $3,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,256,765 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $168,049,000 after purchasing an additional 48,508 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,999,235 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $106,237,000 after purchasing an additional 88,954 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 310,333 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $16,491,000 after purchasing an additional 11,242 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Mercury General by 607.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 214,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,505,000 after acquiring an additional 184,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Mercury General during the 2nd quarter worth about $8,492,000. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mercury General Price Performance

MCY opened at $78.85 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $68.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.24. Mercury General Co. has a 12-month low of $36.37 and a 12-month high of $79.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 0.81.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $1.39. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 10.18%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders 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 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday.

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.