Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $28.57 Million Stock Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 429,745 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 26,082 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $28,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCY. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,944 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $122,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,496 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 132.3% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,917 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 15,898 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Mercury General by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 623,460 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $39,273,000 after purchasing an additional 15,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 12,300 shares during the last quarter. 42.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCY. Raymond James raised shares of Mercury General from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Mercury General Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE MCY opened at $57.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of 6.75 and a beta of 0.80. Mercury General Co. has a 12-month low of $44.19 and a 12-month high of $80.72. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.72. 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 (NYSE:MCY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The insurance provider reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 2.23%. Mercury General’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.03%.

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.