Invesco Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 725,743 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 1.31% of Mercury General worth $48,247,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCY. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,670,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $243,983,000 after purchasing an additional 165,629 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mercury General by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 623,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,273,000 after acquiring an additional 15,264 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Mercury General by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 485,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $32,294,000 after acquiring an additional 4,372 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 94.6% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 304,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,276,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 302,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,121,000 after purchasing an additional 14,328 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCY has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James raised Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Mercury General Stock Performance

NYSE MCY opened at $52.55 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.22 and a beta of 0.81. 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 Co. has a 52-week low of $44.19 and a 52-week high of $80.72. The company has a fifty day moving average of $54.05 and a 200-day moving average of $61.52.

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

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This is a boost from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. 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.