Blue Trust Inc. Has $122,000 Holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 68.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 793 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCY. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Mercury General by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,738 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 480 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 47,882 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,016,000 after buying an additional 481 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 1,190.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $83,153.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 35.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MCY opened at $52.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a PE ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Mercury General Co. has a 1-year low of $44.19 and a 1-year high of $80.72. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.47.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. Research analysts predict that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is 15.03%.

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.