Keeley Teton Advisors LLC Sells 2,204 Shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Keeley Teton Advisors LLC decreased its position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,901 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 2,204 shares during the quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in Mercury General by 463.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,181 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 4,261 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Mercury General by 14.5% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,799 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 1,242 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 60.4% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 72,573 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $4,571,000 after acquiring an additional 27,327 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC purchased a new stake in Mercury General in the third quarter worth $266,000. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 319.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,557 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 35,470 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mercury General Stock Performance

Shares of MCY stock opened at $53.18 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.29 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 one year low of $44.19 and a one year high of $80.72. The company’s 50-day moving average is $54.11 and its 200 day moving average is $61.46.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. This is a boost from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Mercury General’s payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on MCY shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

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.