Wall Street Zen Upgrades Hippo (NYSE:HIPO) to Hold

Key Points

• Hippo's stock was upgraded from a "sell" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a more cautious outlook for investors.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Hippo, with B. Riley setting a new target of $41.00 and JMP Securities at $40.00, while the average price target is currently $34.25.
• CEO Torben Ostergaard and major shareholder Len Fw Investor, Llc have recently sold shares, reflecting changes in insider ownership and potential shifts in confidence in the company's future.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hippo (NYSE:HIPO - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Hippo from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Hippo from $43.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. JMP Securities upped their target price on shares of Hippo from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Hippo from $35.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $34.25.

Hippo Stock Performance

Shares of HIPO traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $29.30. 117,448 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 213,643. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $27.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.35. Hippo has a 1 year low of $15.74 and a 1 year high of $35.44. The stock has a market cap of $737.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -59.80 and a beta of 1.53.

Hippo (NYSE:HIPO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.65) by $1.30. Hippo had a negative net margin of 2.52% and a negative return on equity of 12.13%. The firm had revenue of $117.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $116.00 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Hippo will post -3.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Len Fw Investor, Llc sold 514,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.17, for a total value of $14,488,084.53. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 2,476,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at $69,760,695.06. This represents a 17.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Torben Ostergaard sold 2,444 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.95, for a total transaction of $73,197.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,927,252.55. This trade represents a 3.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 521,642 shares of company stock valued at $14,681,601. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Hippo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HIPO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hippo by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,020,249 shares of the company's stock worth $27,312,000 after purchasing an additional 96,959 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Hippo by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 213,784 shares of the company's stock worth $5,723,000 after acquiring an additional 67,608 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in shares of Hippo by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 12,216 shares of the company's stock worth $327,000 after acquiring an additional 2,759 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Hippo by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 35,866 shares of the company's stock worth $960,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Hippo by 90.8% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 268,320 shares of the company's stock worth $7,183,000 after acquiring an additional 127,716 shares during the last quarter. 43.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hippo Company Profile

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.