Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $97.80.

A number of research firms have recently commented on ROOT. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Root from $90.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. Zacks Research raised Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Root from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Root from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Root in a research note on Thursday, February 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ROOT. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Root by 25.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 724,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,854,000 after acquiring an additional 149,064 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Root by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 654,252 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,257,000 after acquiring an additional 157,654 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Root by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 258,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,647,000 after purchasing an additional 12,321 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

Root Price Performance

Root stock opened at $43.90 on Monday. Root has a 1 year low of $42.65 and a 1 year high of $162.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $55.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.41. The company has a market cap of $683.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.92 and a beta of 2.84.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $397.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.57 million. Root had a net margin of 2.58% and a return on equity of 15.34%. Root’s revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Root will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

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.