Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Price Target to $70.00

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) had its price objective trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $70.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on ROOT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Root in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen cut Root from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. Zacks Research raised Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Root in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.40.

Root Price Performance

Root stock opened at $51.88 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $804.66 million, a P/E ratio of 22.36 and a beta of 2.76. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $66.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $78.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.23. Root has a 1 year low of $51.83 and a 1 year high of $181.14.

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

Institutional Trading of Root

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ROOT. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Root by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,376,000 after acquiring an additional 74,427 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Root by 25.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 724,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,854,000 after purchasing an additional 149,064 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Root by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 654,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,257,000 after purchasing an additional 157,654 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Root by 54.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 357,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,708,000 after purchasing an additional 126,467 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Root by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 310,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,466,000 after purchasing an additional 12,238 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

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.