Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.84 EPS

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84, Zacks reports. Mercury General had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 10.18%.

Mercury General Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE MCY traded down $0.55 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $50.13. The stock had a trading volume of 1,265,417 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,047,710. The company has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.90. Mercury General has a twelve month low of $39.56 and a twelve month high of $80.72.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Mercury General

In related news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $83,153.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 35.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th.

Mercury General Company 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.