TD Cowen Downgrades Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) to Strong Sell

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) was downgraded by investment analysts at TD Cowen from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

ROOT has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Root from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Root from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $78.00 to $58.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Root from $95.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Root from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Root Stock Performance

ROOT opened at $55.79 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $864.19 million, a P/E ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 2.89. Root has a 1-year low of $40.91 and a 1-year high of $104.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Root

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Root by 780.1% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 220,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,949,000 after acquiring an additional 195,725 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in Root by 372.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 228,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,474,000 after acquiring an additional 180,289 shares during the last quarter. Findell Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Root by 291.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Root by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 654,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,257,000 after purchasing an additional 157,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Root by 132.5% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 170,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,313,000 after purchasing an additional 97,149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

Root Company 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.