The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.9583.

HNST has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Honest from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Honest from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of Honest in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Honest from $5.50 to $4.25 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 15th.

Insider Activity at Honest

In other news, CEO Carla Vernon sold 99,328 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.65, for a total transaction of $362,547.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,998,993 shares in the company, valued at $10,946,324.45. This represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Brendan Sheehey sold 12,059 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.65, for a total value of $44,015.35. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 568,588 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,075,346.20. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 131,890 shares of company stock worth $481,399 over the last three months. 8.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Summit Securities Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Honest by 6,101.8% in the 1st quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 6,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 6,712 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC purchased a new position in shares of Honest in the 2nd quarter valued at about $52,000. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Honest in the 1st quarter valued at about $58,000. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Honest during the 2nd quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Ethos Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Honest in the second quarter valued at approximately $62,000. 45.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Honest Price Performance

HNST opened at $3.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $373.87 million, a P/E ratio of 67.21 and a beta of 2.28. Honest has a fifty-two week low of $3.28 and a fifty-two week high of $8.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $3.79 and its 200 day moving average is $4.37.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.02). Honest had a net margin of 1.66% and a return on equity of 3.84%. The firm had revenue of $93.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.18 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Honest will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current year.

About Honest

The Honest Company, Inc manufactures and sells diapers and wipes, skin and personal care, and household and wellness products. The company also offers baby clothing and nursery bedding products. It sells its products through digital and retail sales channels, such as its website and third-party ecommerce sites, as well as brick and mortar retailers.