Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold” Rating

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Root from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research raised shares of Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Root from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Root in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.40.

Root Price Performance

NASDAQ:ROOT opened at $51.88 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.89. Root has a 52 week low of $51.83 and a 52 week high of $181.14. The stock has a market cap of $804.61 million, a PE ratio of 22.36 and a beta of 2.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.28. Root had a return on equity of 15.93% and a net margin of 2.58%.The firm had revenue of $397.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Root will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Root

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ROOT. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Root by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,376,000 after purchasing an additional 74,427 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Root by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 1,750 shares during the last quarter. Twinbeech Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Root in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,018,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Root by 780.1% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 220,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,949,000 after acquiring an additional 195,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Findell Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Root by 291.7% during the 4th quarter. Findell Capital Management LLC now owns 235,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,974,000 after acquiring an additional 175,000 shares during the last quarter. 59.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Root

Root, trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker ROOT, is a Columbus, Ohio–based insurance company that leverages mobile technology and data analytics to offer personalized auto insurance policies. Founded in 2015 by Alex Timm and Dan Manges, Root set out to transform traditional underwriting by focusing on individual driving behavior rather than broad demographic factors.

The company’s core product is usage-based auto insurance, delivered through a smartphone app that monitors driving patterns such as speed, braking and phone usage behind the wheel.