Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at TD Cowen

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) was downgraded by stock analysts at TD Cowen from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on ROOT. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Root from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group set a $50.00 price target on shares of Root and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Root from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Root from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Root Stock Down 2.8%

NASDAQ:ROOT opened at $55.79 on Thursday. Root has a twelve month low of $40.91 and a twelve month high of $104.47. The company has a market cap of $864.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 2.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.66. The firm had revenue of $389.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $395.14 million. Root had a net margin of 3.78% and a return on equity of 19.72%. The business’s revenue was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Root will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 5,626 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Root by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Root by 389.3% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,699,000 after purchasing an additional 22,997 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Root by 511.7% during the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Root by 29.6% during the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. 59.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.