Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Price Target Raised to $80.00

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on ROOT. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Root from $84.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JMP Securities downgraded shares of Root from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Root from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Root to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $90.00 price target (up from $82.00) on shares of Root in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Root has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.38.

Root Stock Up 3.0 %

Root stock opened at $88.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.93. Root has a twelve month low of $7.22 and a twelve month high of $118.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -71.81 and a beta of 2.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Root had a negative return on equity of 9.81% and a negative net margin of 1.56%. The firm had revenue of $305.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $272.77 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($3.16) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 165.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Root will post -1.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Root

In other Root news, major shareholder Meyer Malka sold 118,107 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.71, for a total transaction of $9,768,629.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Julie Szudarek sold 2,000 shares of Root stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.33, for a total value of $192,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,445,238.99. This represents a 11.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 246,905 shares of company stock worth $20,440,479. 11.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hood River Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Root in the second quarter worth $9,547,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Root in the 2nd quarter valued at $9,154,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Root in the second quarter valued at about $1,280,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Root during the third quarter worth about $645,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Root by 966.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,040 shares of the company’s stock worth $682,000 after buying an additional 16,348 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

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.