Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Price Target Cut to $52.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) had its target price trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $52.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ROOT. Weiss Ratings raised Root from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Root from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Root from $90.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 9th. Zacks Research raised Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Root from $104.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.40.

Root Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:ROOT opened at $46.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $725.41 million, a P/E ratio of 20.09 and a beta of 2.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.21. Root has a 1 year low of $40.91 and a 1 year high of $162.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.34.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $397.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.57 million. Root had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 2.58%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Root will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Root by 950.0% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 36,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,289,000 after acquiring an additional 33,250 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in Root by 754.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 20,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,628,000 after acquiring an additional 18,134 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 149,064 shares during the period. Proem Advisors LLC bought a new position in Root in the third quarter valued at about $3,279,000. Finally, Palisades Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Root in the third quarter valued at about $7,314,000. Institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

Root Company Profile

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.