Brokerages Set Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) Target Price at $59.13

Shares of Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $59.13.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Root in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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, 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Root news, major shareholder Meyer Malka sold 50,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.78, for a total value of $4,320,304.02. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102 shares in the company, valued at $8,647.56. The trade was a 99.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Julie Szudarek sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.33, for a total transaction of $192,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 a total of 246,905 shares of company stock worth $20,440,479 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.71% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Root

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

Root Stock Up 4.4 %

ROOT opened at $109.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of -88.94 and a beta of 2.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.56 and a 200-day moving average of $53.75. Root has a fifty-two week low of $7.22 and a fifty-two week high of $118.15.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $305.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $272.77 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($3.16) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 165.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Root will post -1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.