Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) Shares Bought by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,893,881 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 79,659 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $70,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Mercury General by 5.9% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 7,487 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Mercury General by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 60,900 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,707,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Mercury General during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Mercury General by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 12,545 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,077 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Mercury General by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 11,400 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Mercury General Stock Performance

Shares of MCY opened at $57.11 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $53.58 and a 200-day moving average of $45.32. The company has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.30. Mercury General Co. has a 1 year low of $27.27 and a 1 year high of $59.89.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The insurance provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.63. Mercury General had a net margin of 4.48% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Mercury General Co. will post 2.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 13th will be issued a $0.3175 dividend. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 13th. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is 32.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 4th.

About Mercury General

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.