Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on ROOT. UBS Group set a $50.00 price target on Root and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Root from $104.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Root from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Root from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Root in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Root presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.20.

Root Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of Root stock opened at $53.85 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $852.45 million, a P/E ratio of 16.12 and a beta of 2.87. Root has a 1 year low of $40.91 and a 1 year high of $162.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.81.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $1.25. The business had revenue of $393.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $398.16 million. Root had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 3.58%.Root’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Root will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Root

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ROOT. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Root by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after acquiring an additional 5,626 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Root by 4.7% during the 1st 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Root by 389.3% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,699,000 after acquiring an additional 22,997 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Root by 511.7% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Root by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.