Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) Sets New 52-Week Low – Should You Sell?

Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $81.78 and last traded at $83.25, with a volume of 91,933 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MCY shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Mercury General from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Mercury General presently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Mercury General Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $98.63. The company has a market cap of $4.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.21 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The insurance provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.62 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 29.48% and a net margin of 10.47%. Equities analysts expect that Mercury General Corporation will post 13.25 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 17th will be given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 17th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mercury General

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Mercury General by 2.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 5,284 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Point Nemo Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 0.9% in the third quarter. Point Nemo Capital LLC now owns 13,911 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,375,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in Mercury General by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,619 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Monument Capital Management grew its stake in Mercury General by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 26,650 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,634,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Mercury General by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,540 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the period. 42.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mercury General Company Profile

Mercury General Corporation (NYSE:MCY) is an insurance holding company that writes personal and commercial property and casualty insurance through its subsidiaries. The company is best known for automobile insurance, offering coverage such as liability, collision, comprehensive and uninsured or underinsured motorist protection.

Its product portfolio also includes homeowners, renters, condominium, mobile-home and umbrella insurance, as well as commercial automobile coverage and other related property and casualty products.