Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Reduces Stock Position in Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lowered its stake in shares of Mercury General Co. (NYSE:MCY) by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,317 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 20,706 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.06% of Mercury General worth $1,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Mercury General by 607.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 214,427 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $13,505,000 after buying an additional 184,121 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Mercury General during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,492,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Mercury General by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,999,235 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $106,237,000 after purchasing an additional 88,954 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Mercury General by 783.7% in the second quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 97,175 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $5,164,000 after acquiring an additional 86,178 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gunderson Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Mercury General in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,856,000. Institutional investors own 42.39% of the company’s stock.

Mercury General Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE MCY opened at $77.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 7.71 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $67.65 and a 200 day moving average of $60.97. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $36.37 and a 1 year high of $78.72.

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

Mercury General Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 12th will be issued a $0.317 dividend. This represents a $1.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 12th. Mercury General’s payout ratio is presently 12.59%.

Mercury General Profile

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.