XTX Topco Ltd Buys New Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 11,576 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MCY. CWM LLC grew its stake in Mercury General by 962.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 563 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Mercury General by 1,169.4% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 32,980 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after buying an additional 30,382 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co increased its holdings in Mercury General by 4.2% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 8,158 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $434,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Mercury General by 8,262.5% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 669 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Mercury General in the second quarter valued at about $8,492,000. 42.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Mercury General Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE MCY opened at $72.99 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $71.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.52. Mercury General Co. has a one year low of $36.96 and a one year high of $80.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 7.23 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.33 and a quick ratio of 0.33.

Mercury General (NYSE:MCY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The insurance provider reported $2.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $1.39. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Mercury General had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 18.04%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Mercury General Co. will post 6.35 EPS for the current year.

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.317 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $1.27 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Mercury General’s payout ratio is 12.59%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Mercury General from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Heidi C. Sullivan sold 1,076 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.28, for a total transaction of $83,153.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 35.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.