Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 41,732 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 4,812 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $2,774,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 451 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 58.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 1.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 47,882 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,016,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 72.0% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,151 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MCY. StockNews.com lowered 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 increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Mercury General Stock Performance

NYSE MCY opened at $52.24 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $56.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.47. Mercury General Co. has a twelve month low of $44.19 and a twelve month high of $80.72. The company has a market capitalization 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 (NYSE:MCY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.55%. On average, research analysts predict that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors 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 is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is 15.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total value of $83,153.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.