Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $227,000 Investment in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 4,068 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,670,014 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $243,983,000 after acquiring an additional 165,629 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,056,821 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $136,739,000 after acquiring an additional 16,299 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General in the 4th quarter valued at about $113,252,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 485,767 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $32,294,000 after acquiring an additional 4,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 370,140 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $24,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,835 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen upgraded Mercury General from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 12th.

Mercury General Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE MCY opened at $64.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a PE ratio of 7.63 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Mercury General Co. has a 52-week low of $44.19 and a 52-week high of $80.72. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $58.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.82.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The insurance provider reported ($2.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($4.00) by $1.71. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.36 billion. Mercury General had a return on equity of 22.54% and a net margin of 8.55%. Equities research analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 12th will be given a $0.3175 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.61%.

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.