Palisades Investment Partners LLC Buys New Stake in Root, Inc. $ROOT

Palisades Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 81,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,314,000. Root accounts for about 2.9% of Palisades Investment Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ROOT. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Root by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,229 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 5,626 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Root by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $686,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Root in the 1st quarter valued at about $313,000. Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Root during the second quarter worth about $875,000. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Root during the second quarter worth about $7,167,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

Root Price Performance

Shares of Root stock opened at $68.91 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.82 and a beta of 2.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.81. Root, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.16 and a twelve month high of $181.14.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.43) by $0.08. Root had a net margin of 3.80% and a return on equity of 23.36%. The firm had revenue of $387.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $363.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 26.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Root, Inc. will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Root from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Root in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Root in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $75.00 price target on shares of Root and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.60.

Root 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.