Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,703,550 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $113,252,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 3.08% of Mercury General as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCY. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 75,400 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,013,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,496 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Mercury General by 145.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,542 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,816 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Mercury General from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mercury General from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

Mercury General Price Performance

NYSE:MCY opened at $57.40 on Monday. Mercury General Co. has a one year low of $44.19 and a one year high of $80.72. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $54.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.57.

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

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. This is a positive change from Mercury General's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General's payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

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.

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