Hennessy Advisors Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 192,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,300 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.35% of Mercury General worth $12,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCY. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Mercury General by 132.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,917 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after acquiring an additional 15,898 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Mercury General by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 623,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,273,000 after purchasing an additional 15,264 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Mercury General by 20.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 52,688 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,800,000 after buying an additional 8,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 319.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Mercury General

In related news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of Mercury General stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $83,153.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 35.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Mercury General Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MCY opened at $52.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.16 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.37. Mercury General Co. has a 1-year low of $37.89 and a 1-year high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.54 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $1.39. Mercury General had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 18.04%. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post 5.05 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th were paid a dividend of $0.317 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 12th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.59%.

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.