Wall Street Zen Upgrades Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) to Strong-Buy

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Mercury General in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded Mercury General from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mercury General has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Mercury General Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MCY opened at $86.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a PE ratio of 8.85 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. Mercury General has a 12-month low of $47.06 and a 12-month high of $100.06.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Park West Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Mercury General during the third quarter worth approximately $23,953,000. Rubric Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Mercury General by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP now owns 2,054,504 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $138,350,000 after purchasing an additional 232,721 shares during the period. Goldentree Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Mercury General in the 2nd quarter worth $10,935,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 2,513.7% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 157,893 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,633,000 after buying an additional 151,852 shares during the period. Finally, Philosophy Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Mercury General during the third quarter valued at about $11,778,000. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Mercury General

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.