Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) Stock Price Up 6.5% – Time to Buy?

Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT)’s share price shot up 6.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $58.29 and last traded at $60.3010. 60,079 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 326,928 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ROOT has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Root from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. UBS Group set a $50.00 price objective on Root and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Root from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Root from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Root from $104.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.20.

Root Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $48.83 and its 200 day moving average is $64.50. The company has a market cap of $919.89 million, a P/E ratio of 17.71 and a beta of 2.95.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Root, Inc. will post 2.15 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Root

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ROOT. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of Root in the first quarter worth $1,193,000. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Root by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 47,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,087,000 after purchasing an additional 25,986 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG purchased a new position in Root during the 1st quarter valued at about $332,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Root by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,632 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,376,000 after buying an additional 74,427 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of Root by 33.3% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 7,002 shares of the company’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 1,750 shares during the period. 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.