Quantbot Technologies LP Buys Shares of 11,630 Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 11,630 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $732,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MCY. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General in the 3rd quarter worth $933,000. Jennison Associates LLC purchased a new position in Mercury General during the third quarter valued at $852,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Mercury General by 12,340.0% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Mercury General by 4.6% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,287 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $648,000 after buying an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Mercury General in the third quarter worth about $211,000. 42.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Mercury General Price Performance

Mercury General stock opened at $77.40 on Tuesday. Mercury General Co. has a 52-week low of $36.96 and a 52-week high of $80.72. The company has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.83 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $69.17 and its 200 day moving average is $61.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $1.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 18.04% and a net margin of 10.18%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 12th will be issued a $0.317 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.59%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th.

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.