Wells Fargo & Company Lowers Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Price Target to $70.00

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) had its price target dropped by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 34.93% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Root from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, January 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Root in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $104.00 price objective (down from $150.00) on shares of Root in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Root presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.40.

Root Trading Down 10.1%

ROOT stock opened at $51.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Root has a twelve month low of $51.83 and a twelve month high of $181.14. The company has a market cap of $804.61 million, a P/E ratio of 22.36 and a beta of 2.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $66.76 and a 200-day moving average of $78.89.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $397.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.57 million. Root had a return on equity of 15.93% 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 last year, the business earned $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Root will post -0.08 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Root

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Root by 950.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 36,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,289,000 after purchasing an additional 33,250 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Root by 754.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 20,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,628,000 after purchasing an additional 18,134 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in Root during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,497,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc bought a new stake in Root during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,829,000. Finally, Proem Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Root during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,279,000. 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.