Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C Boosts Holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C increased its position in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 33.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,367 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,102 shares during the quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in Mercury General by 7.3% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 58,441 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,958 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,162,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Mercury General by 4.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,999,235 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $106,237,000 after buying an additional 88,954 shares during the period. BOKF NA purchased a new stake in Mercury General in the 2nd quarter valued at about $608,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Mercury General by 20.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 52,688 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,800,000 after buying an additional 8,976 shares during the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of MCY opened at $63.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.81. Mercury General Co. has a 1-year low of $27.30 and a 1-year high of $67.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.31 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.29. Mercury General had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 6.36%. The company had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.47) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.3175 per share. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 12th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.65%.

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.