Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Shares Gap Up to $51.60

Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $51.60, but opened at $53.40. Mercury General shares last traded at $52.71, with a volume of 49,826 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised Mercury General from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th.

Mercury General Stock Up 1.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market cap of $2.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.21 and a beta of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.68.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The insurance provider reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $1.10. The firm had revenue of $1.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.16 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 1.17% and a net margin of 2.08%. Equities research analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.317 per share. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. Mercury General's payout ratio is 72.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MCY. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 63.0% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,275,905 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $149,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,039,972 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Mercury General by 24.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,521,741 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $48,299,000 after acquiring an additional 299,006 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Mercury General by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,051,777 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $86,732,000 after acquiring an additional 285,445 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Mercury General by 20.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,274,652 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $70,106,000 after acquiring an additional 219,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Mercury General in the third quarter valued at about $4,234,000. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company's stock.

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.