Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Trading Down 5.5% – Time to Sell?

Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) fell 5.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $55.25 and last traded at $54.9850. Approximately 58,065 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 300,032 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut Root from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Root from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Root from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Root from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, UBS Group set a $50.00 target price on shares of Root and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. One analyst has 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Root Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $874.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 2.89. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $57.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $54.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.66. Root had a net margin of 3.78% and a return on equity of 19.72%. The firm had revenue of $389.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $395.14 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Root, Inc. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Root in the 1st quarter worth about $1,193,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Root in the 1st quarter valued at about $920,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Root by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 68,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,006,000 after acquiring an additional 22,422 shares in the last quarter. Findell Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Root by 291.7% during the 4th quarter. Findell Capital Management LLC now owns 235,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,974,000 after acquiring an additional 175,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prosperitas Financial LLC acquired a new position in Root during the fourth quarter worth about $1,594,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

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.