Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Sold by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE reduced its stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Free Report) by 62.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,191 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 25,577 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE's holdings in Mercury General were worth $1,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Algert Global LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 25,415 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 7,329 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Mercury General during the fourth quarter worth approximately $200,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General during the fourth quarter worth approximately $649,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mercury General by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 216,589 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $14,399,000 after purchasing an additional 101,488 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 279,271 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $18,566,000 after acquiring an additional 7,177 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of Mercury General from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report 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 1.4%

Mercury General stock opened at $65.37 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average is $57.47 and its 200-day moving average is $59.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. Mercury General Co. has a 1 year low of $44.19 and a 1 year high of $80.72. The company has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.74 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Mercury General's payout ratio is 24.61%.

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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