Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. Acquires Shares of 10,500 Root, Inc. $ROOT

Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $758,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in Root by 1,155.8% in the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 7,045 shares of the company’s stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the period. Palisades Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Root by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 83,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,017,000 after purchasing an additional 1,586 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Root by 1,254.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,178,000 after purchasing an additional 27,932 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in Root in the 3rd quarter valued at $144,000. Finally, Woodline Partners LP bought a new position in Root in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,742,000. Institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ROOT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Root from $70.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Root from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. UBS Group cut their price target on Root from $90.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Root from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.40.

Root Price Performance

ROOT stock opened at $55.05 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $856.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73 and a beta of 2.95. Root, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.91 and a fifty-two week high of $162.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.07 and a 200-day moving average of $65.26.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $397.00 million during 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Root, Inc. will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Root 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.