D.A. Davidson & CO. Has $2.94 Million Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

D.A. Davidson & CO. cut its holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 44,213 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,756 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $2,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCY. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Mercury General by 1,190.5% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,151 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 115.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,215 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 652 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Mercury General by 12,340.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,244 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Mercury General by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,299 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MCY shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James raised shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Mercury General Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Mercury General stock opened at $52.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.34. Mercury General Co. has a 52 week low of $44.19 and a 52 week high of $80.72. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a PE ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 0.85.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mercury General Co. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Mercury General news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $83,153.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 35.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.