Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC Takes Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 25,320 shares of the insurance provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,683,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCY. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,944 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Mercury General by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 218,312 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $14,513,000 after buying an additional 10,812 shares during the last quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $424,000. Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in Mercury General by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 79,677 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $5,297,000 after acquiring an additional 17,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 22,964 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 5,652 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Mercury General from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Mercury General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th.

Mercury General Trading Up 4.1%

Shares of NYSE:MCY traded up $2.47 on Thursday, hitting $63.29. 137,440 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 406,809. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.48 and a beta of 0.90. Mercury General Co. has a 12 month low of $44.19 and a 12 month high of $80.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $56.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.66.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported ($2.29) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($4.00) by $1.71. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.36 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.55%. Analysts anticipate that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. Mercury General's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.61%.

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.