Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Raises Dividend to $0.32 Per Share

Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Thursday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.3175 per share by the insurance provider on Thursday, June 27th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. This is a boost from Mercury General's previous quarterly dividend of $0.32.

Mercury General has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 20.5% per year over the last three years.

Mercury General Stock Up 3.8 %

MCY traded up $2.00 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $54.26. 490,805 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 227,692. Mercury General has a 1-year low of $26.15 and a 1-year high of $57.12. The stock's 50-day moving average is $50.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.27. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The insurance provider reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 2.08% and a return on equity of 1.17%. Sell-side analysts predict that Mercury General will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Mercury General from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th.

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.