Hippo (NYSE:HIPO) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Hippo (NYSE:HIPO) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on HIPO. JMP Securities raised their target price on shares of Hippo from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Hippo from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Hippo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Hippo in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.25.

Hippo Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:HIPO opened at $34.43 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $861.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.27 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Hippo has a 1 year low of $16.49 and a 1 year high of $38.98.

Hippo (NYSE:HIPO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.65) by $1.30. The business had revenue of $117.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.00 million. Hippo had a negative net margin of 2.52% and a negative return on equity of 12.13%. As a group, research analysts predict that Hippo will post -3.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Guy Zeltser sold 5,177 shares of Hippo stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.48, for a total transaction of $194,033.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 74,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,805,790.28. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard Mccathron sold 2,725 shares of Hippo stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.12, for a total transaction of $92,977.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 470,388 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,049,638.56. This trade represents a 0.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,177 shares of company stock worth $364,361. 10.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hippo

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hippo by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,044,502 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,697,000 after purchasing an additional 24,253 shares during the period. Hood River Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Hippo in the second quarter valued at $13,665,000. Westerly Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hippo by 30.4% in the second quarter. Westerly Capital Management LLC now owns 326,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,105,000 after buying an additional 76,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Hippo by 30.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 208,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,823,000 after buying an additional 48,677 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Hippo by 1.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 154,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,940,000 after buying an additional 1,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.01% of the company’s stock.

About Hippo

Hippo Holdings Inc provides property and casualty insurance products to individuals and business customers primarily in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Services, Insurance-as-a-Service, and Hippo Home Insurance Program. Its insurance products include homeowners' insurance against risks of fire, wind, and theft, as well as other personal lines policies from third party carriers; and personal and commercial, as well as home, auto, cyber, small business, life, specialty lines, and other insurance products.