Comerica Bank Sells 408 Shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Comerica Bank cut its position in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,542 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 408 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Mercury General by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 192,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,784,000 after acquiring an additional 12,300 shares during the period. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter valued at $424,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Mercury General by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 79,677 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,297,000 after acquiring an additional 17,370 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James raised Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday.

Mercury General Price Performance

NYSE MCY opened at $62.00 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.34 and a beta of 0.90. 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 12-month low of $44.19 and a 12-month high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported ($2.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($4.00) by $1.71. Mercury General had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.55%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. Analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th will be given a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 12th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is currently 24.61%.

Mercury General Company 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.