Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Takes $173,000 Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 2,608 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Mercury General by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 623,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $39,273,000 after purchasing an additional 15,264 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Mercury General by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 302,660 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $20,121,000 after buying an additional 14,328 shares in the last quarter. Phase 2 Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Mercury General by 142.1% in the 3rd quarter. Phase 2 Partners LLC now owns 273,955 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $17,254,000 after buying an additional 160,808 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Mercury General in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $13,068,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Mercury General by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 192,300 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $12,784,000 after buying an additional 12,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Mercury General stock opened at $55.89 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 6.61 and a beta of 0.80. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $52.58 and its 200 day moving average is $62.49. Mercury General Co. has a 1 year low of $44.19 and a 1 year high of $80.72.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.94 by $0.84. Mercury General had a net margin of 8.55% and a return on equity of 22.54%. Equities research analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post -0.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Mercury General’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 15.03%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th.

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.