Sheets Smith Investment Management Buys Shares of 19,281 Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Sheets Smith Investment Management bought a new stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 19,281 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,282,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Mercury General by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,670,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $243,983,000 after purchasing an additional 165,629 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Mercury General by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 623,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,273,000 after purchasing an additional 15,264 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Mercury General by 94.6% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 304,992 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,276,000 after purchasing an additional 148,301 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Mercury General by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 302,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,121,000 after purchasing an additional 14,328 shares during the period. Finally, Phase 2 Partners LLC raised its position in Mercury General by 142.1% in the third quarter. Phase 2 Partners LLC now owns 273,955 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,254,000 after purchasing an additional 160,808 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Stock Performance

NYSE:MCY opened at $55.89 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.49. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Mercury General Co. has a 52 week low of $44.19 and a 52 week high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. This is an increase from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 15.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MCY shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

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.