Millstone Evans Group LLC Makes New $60,000 Investment in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $60,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MCY. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in Mercury General by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 88,466 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $5,881,000 after purchasing an additional 18,256 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $173,000. Delphi Management Inc. MA acquired a new position in Mercury General in the fourth quarter worth approximately $708,000. Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in Mercury General in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $639,000. Finally, Globeflex Capital L P grew its position in Mercury General by 87.7% in the fourth quarter. Globeflex Capital L P now owns 113,005 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $7,513,000 after acquiring an additional 52,789 shares in the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on MCY. Raymond James raised shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com downgraded Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Mercury General Price Performance

Shares of Mercury General stock opened at $55.89 on Monday. Mercury General Co. has a 1-year low of $44.19 and a 1-year high of $80.72. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.80.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.3175 dividend. 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 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

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.