How to buy Mercury General Corporation stock | $51.1

Mercury General Corporation is an insurance-property & casualty business based in the US. Mercury General Corporation shares (MCY) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Mercury General Corporation employs 4,500 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$3.7 billion.

How to buy shares in Mercury General Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Mercury General Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: MCY. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Mercury General Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$51.1, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Mercury General Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Mercury General Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Mercury General Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of MCY stocks over time.

Mercury General Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-12-30.

Latest market close	USD$51.1
52-week range	USD$32.0953 - USD$52.48
50-day moving average	USD$47.29
200-day moving average	USD$43.4732
Wall St. target price	USD$41
PE ratio	12.0243
Dividend yield	USD$2.53 (4.92%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$4.32

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Is it a good time to buy Mercury General Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Mercury General Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Mercury General Corporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $51.1 from 2020-12-18

1 week (2021-01-11)	-2.24%
1 month (2020-12-22)	-0.62%
3 months (2020-10-18)	N/A
6 months (2020-07-18)	N/A

1 year (2020-01-18)	N/A
2 years (2019-01-18)	-5.75%
3 years (2018-01-18)	51.54
5 years (2016-01-18)	N/A

Is Mercury General Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing Mercury General Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Mercury General Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Mercury General Corporation's P/E ratio

Mercury General Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 12x. In other words, Mercury General Corporation shares trade at around 12x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

Mercury General Corporation's PEG ratio

Mercury General Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.19. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Mercury General Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Mercury General Corporation's EBITDA

Mercury General Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$364.8 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Mercury General Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Mercury General Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$3.7 billion
Operating margin TTM	8.02%
Gross profit TTM	USD$706.6 million
Return on assets TTM	3.09%
Return on equity TTM	12.94%
Profit margin	6.47%
Book value	$34.337
Market capitalisation	USD$2.9 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Mercury General Corporation shares

There are currently 478,904 Mercury General Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Mercury General Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 21.2% down from 607,757 last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Mercury General Corporation shares can be evaluated.

Mercury General Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Mercury General Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Mercury General Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Mercury General Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 210970.92511013). Mercury General Corporation's SIR currently stands at 2.27. In other words for every 100,000 Mercury General Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 2270 shares are currently held short.

However Mercury General Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Mercury General Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Mercury General Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Mercury General Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Mercury General Corporation shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0132% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Mercury General Corporation shares, roughly 13 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Mercury General Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short Mercury General Corporation stock.

Mercury General Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 57.72% of net profits

Recently Mercury General Corporation has paid out, on average, around 57.72% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 4.92% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Mercury General Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 4.92% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Mercury General Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $2.53 per share.

Mercury General Corporation's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Mercury General Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 30 December 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 15 December 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Mercury General Corporation's shares ever split?

Mercury General Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 10 October 1997. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Mercury General Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Mercury General Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted Mercury General Corporation's share price.

Mercury General Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Mercury General Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $32.0953 up to $52.48. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Mercury General Corporation's is 0.3921. This would suggest that Mercury General Corporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Mercury General Corporation overview

Mercury General Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in writing personal automobile insurance in the United States. It also writes homeowners, commercial automobile, commercial property, mechanical protection, fire, and umbrella insurance. The company's automobile insurance products cover collision, property damage, bodily injury, comprehensive, personal injury protection, underinsured and uninsured motorist, and other hazards; and homeowners' insurance products cover dwelling, liability, personal property, fire, and other hazards. It sells its policies through a network of independent agents, 100% owned insurance agents, and direct channels in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia. The company was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Mercury General Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 52.088% of Mercury General Corporation shares are held by insiders and 42.573% by institutions.

• How many people work for Mercury General Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 4,500 work at Mercury General Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Mercury General Corporation?

  Mercury General Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Mercury General Corporation based?

  Mercury General Corporation's address is: 4484 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90010

• What is Mercury General Corporation's ISIN number?

  Mercury General Corporation's international securities identification number is: US5894001008

• What is Mercury General Corporation's CUSIP number?

  Mercury General Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 589400100