Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC Makes New Investment in Root, Inc. $ROOT

Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC acquired a new position in Root, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROOT) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 27,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,193,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Root by 122.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 10,229 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 5,626 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised 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 worth $686,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Root by 389.3% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 28,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,699,000 after purchasing an additional 22,997 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Root by 511.7% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 734 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in Root by 29.6% in the second quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on ROOT shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Root from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Root from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Zacks Research upgraded Root from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group set a $50.00 target price on Root and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Root in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Root presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $86.00.

Root Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of ROOT opened at $61.73 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $977.19 million, a P/E ratio of 18.48 and a beta of 2.85. Root, Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.91 and a twelve month high of $134.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.11.

Root (NASDAQ:ROOT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $2.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $1.25. The firm had revenue of $393.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $398.16 million. Root had a net margin of 3.58% and a return on equity of 19.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Root, Inc. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

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.