Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Stock Price

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 14.29% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ROOT. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Root from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Root from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Root from $104.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Root from $90.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Root has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.40.

Root Price Performance

ROOT stock traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $45.50. 15,896 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 325,288. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.50. Root has a one year low of $40.91 and a one year high of $162.99. The company has a market cap of $707.98 million, a P/E ratio of 19.54 and a beta of 2.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.28. Root had a return on equity of 15.34% and a net margin of 2.58%.The firm had revenue of $397.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.30 earnings per share. Root’s revenue was up 21.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Root will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Root

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ROOT. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Root by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,632 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,376,000 after buying an additional 74,427 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Root by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after acquiring an additional 1,750 shares during the period. Twinbeech Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Root in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,018,000. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Root by 780.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 220,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,949,000 after acquiring an additional 195,725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Findell Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Root by 291.7% in the 4th quarter. Findell Capital Management LLC now owns 235,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,974,000 after purchasing an additional 175,000 shares during the period. 59.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.