Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Purchases 86,178 Shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 783.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 97,175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after buying an additional 86,178 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Mercury General were worth $5,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 7,606.6% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 53,330 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,752,000 after purchasing an additional 52,638 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,256,765 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $168,049,000 after acquiring an additional 48,508 shares during the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP bought a new stake in Mercury General during the 1st quarter worth about $486,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 132.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 17,561 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $906,000 after acquiring an additional 10,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Mercury General by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 52,688 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,800,000 after acquiring an additional 8,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MCY opened at $63.21 on Friday. Mercury General Co. has a 12 month low of $27.30 and a 12 month high of $67.11. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.25 and a beta of 0.81.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The insurance provider reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.29. Mercury General had a net margin of 6.36% and a return on equity of 14.91%. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.33 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.47) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mercury General Co. will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Mercury General Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 12th were given a dividend of $0.3175 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 32.65%.

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.