Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on ROOT. Zacks Research raised Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Root in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Root in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $75.00 target price on shares of Root and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.60.

Root Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ROOT opened at $70.17 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $77.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.46. Root has a 52 week low of $68.08 and a 52 week high of $181.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 2.70.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $387.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.06 million. Root had a net margin of 3.80% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Root will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Root

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC raised its position in shares of Root by 3.0% during the second quarter. Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC now owns 6,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $797,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Root by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $686,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Root by 28.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $139,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Root by 16.9% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Root by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 22,193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,858,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. 59.82% of the stock is 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.