Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Position Reduced by Jane Street Group LLC

Jane Street Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Free Report) by 90.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,177 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 65,396 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC's holdings in Mercury General were worth $477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 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 worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Mercury General during the fourth quarter worth about $424,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 27.9% during the fourth 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. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 32.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 319.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,557 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,931,000 after acquiring an additional 35,470 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company's stock.

Mercury General Price Performance

MCY stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $65.33. The company had a trading volume of 563,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 412,983. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.73 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.96 and a 200 day moving average of $59.31. Mercury General Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.19 and a fifty-two week high of $80.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. Mercury General's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.