Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Shares Down 6.7% – What’s Next?

Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT)’s stock price dropped 6.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $54.39 and last traded at $54.3850. Approximately 89,251 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 326,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.32.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ROOT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $50.00 target price on Root and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut Root from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Root from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Root from $104.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Root from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.20.

Root Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $857.27 million, a P/E ratio of 16.21 and a beta of 2.95. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.65 and a 200 day moving average of $63.77.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $1.25. The business had revenue of $393.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $398.16 million. Root had a return on equity of 19.97% and a net margin of 3.58%.Root’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Root, Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Root

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Root by 122.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 5,626 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in Root by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 5,141 shares of the company’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Root by 389.3% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,905 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,699,000 after buying an additional 22,997 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Root by 511.7% in the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Root by 29.6% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 59.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Root

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.