JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in Mercury General Corporation $MCY

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) by 54.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,202 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 88,446 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.13% of Mercury General worth $6,291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCY. Park West Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Mercury General in the 3rd quarter worth $23,953,000. Rubric Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Mercury General by 12.8% during the second quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 2,054,504 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $138,350,000 after acquiring an additional 232,721 shares during the last quarter. Goldentree Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Mercury General during the second quarter valued at about $10,935,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 2,513.7% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 157,893 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $10,633,000 after purchasing an additional 151,852 shares during the period. Finally, Philosophy Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Mercury General during the third quarter worth about $11,778,000. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Zacks Research upgraded Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Mercury General has a consensus rating of “Strong Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Mercury General Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MCY opened at $88.22 on Wednesday. Mercury General Corporation has a 1-year low of $47.06 and a 1-year high of $100.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.03 and a beta of 0.92.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The insurance provider reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $1.10. The company had revenue of $1.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 9.03% and a return on equity of 20.74%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Mercury General Corporation will post -0.5 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 12th were paid a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 12th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.00%.

Mercury General Company Profile

Mercury General Corporation is a holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that underwrites and markets property and casualty insurance products through its principal subsidiary, Mercury Insurance Company. Established in 1961, the company has built a reputation for offering a broad range of personal and commercial lines, with a focus on automobile coverage. Mercury General operates in key U.S. markets, deploying a mix of independent agents and direct distribution channels to serve policyholders.

The company’s product portfolio includes personal automobile insurance, homeowners and renters policies, as well as commercial automobile, business liability and umbrella insurance.