Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Sold by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Free Report) by 45.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,633 shares of the insurance provider's stock after selling 61,091 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 0.13% of Mercury General worth $4,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NDVR Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. NDVR Inc. now owns 3,695 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $246,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 15,233 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the last quarter. Interval Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 91,161 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $6,060,000 after purchasing an additional 8,254 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 370,140 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $24,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 10,489 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,604 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company's stock.

Mercury General Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of MCY stock traded down $1.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $63.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 190,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,117. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $57.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.34. Mercury General Co. has a 12-month low of $44.19 and a 12-month high of $80.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of 7.57 and a beta of 0.90.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported ($2.29) EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be paid a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. Mercury General's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MCY shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Mercury General from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Mercury General Company 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.