Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

HNST has been the subject of a number of other reports. Freedom Broker lowered shares of Honest from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Zacks Research raised Honest from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings cut Honest from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Freedom Capital raised Honest from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, B. Riley Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $5.50 target price (up from $5.00) on shares of Honest in a report on Friday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Honest presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $5.42.

Honest Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of NASDAQ HNST traded up $0.21 during trading on Friday, reaching $5.01. 2,199,396 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,657,483. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $546.49 million, a PE ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 2.48. Honest has a 52-week low of $2.07 and a 52-week high of $6.01.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter. Honest had a net margin of 23.47% and a return on equity of 5.10%. The firm had revenue of $84.61 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.79 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Honest will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Dorria L. Ball sold 6,812 shares of Honest stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.99, for a total transaction of $33,991.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 418,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,088,734.16. The trade was a 1.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Carla Vernón sold 117,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.99, for a total value of $588,286.07. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,828,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,104,504.42. This represents a 2.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 150,854 shares of company stock valued at $752,853. Company insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Honest during the second quarter valued at about $25,662,000. Green Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Honest in the second quarter worth about $1,092,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Honest in the second quarter worth about $715,000. Caxton Associates LLP bought a new position in shares of Honest in the third quarter worth about $798,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Honest during the third quarter worth about $706,000. 45.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Honest

The Honest Company, founded in 2011 by Jessica Alba and entrepreneur Brian Lee, develops consumer products for families with an emphasis on ingredient transparency and thoughtfully designed everyday essentials. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its products include disposable diapers and wipes, baby and personal-care items, and household cleaning products. Honest sells through its website and retail partners, serving customers primarily in the United States and Canada. Carla Vernón became the company’s chief executive officer in 2023.