Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Rating Lowered to “Market Perform” at JMP Securities

JMP Securities lowered shares of Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Root from $84.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $90.00 price target (up from $82.00) on shares of Root in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Root from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Root from $64.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Root to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Root has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.13.

Root Stock Performance

Shares of ROOT opened at $108.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of -88.16 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. Root has a one year low of $7.22 and a one year high of $118.15. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $56.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.26.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by $1.96. The business had revenue of $305.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $272.77 million. Root had a negative return on equity of 9.81% and a negative net margin of 1.56%. The firm’s revenue was up 165.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($3.16) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Root will post -1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Root news, major shareholder Meyer Malka sold 50,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total value of $4,320,304.02. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 102 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,647.56. The trade was a 99.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Julie Szudarek sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.33, for a total value of $192,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,445,238.99. The trade was a 11.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 246,905 shares of company stock worth $20,440,479 in the last quarter. 11.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Root

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ROOT. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD acquired a new stake in shares of Root in the first quarter valued at approximately $434,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in Root in the 1st quarter valued at $1,997,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Root in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,280,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Root by 2,355.5% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 11,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 11,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Root by 76.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 5,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 2,576 shares during the period. 59.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Root

Root, Inc provides insurance products and services in the United States. The company offers automobile, homeowners, and renters insurance products. It operates a direct-to-consumer model; and serves customers primarily through mobile applications, as well as through its website. The company's direct distribution channels also cover digital, media, and referral channels, as well as distribution partners and agencies.