The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) Short Interest Down 17.7% in March

The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,730,000 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the February 28th total of 5,750,000 shares. Currently, 5.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HNST shares. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Honest in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Loop Capital downgraded shares of Honest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Northland Securities raised their target price on shares of Honest from $7.50 to $9.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.42.

Honest Stock Up 4.6 %

Shares of HNST stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $5.00. 2,908,983 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,065,668. The stock has a market cap of $544.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -125.00 and a beta of 2.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.58. Honest has a fifty-two week low of $2.40 and a fifty-two week high of $8.97.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $99.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.46 million. Honest had a negative net margin of 1.13% and a negative return on equity of 3.26%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Honest will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Honest news, SVP Jonathan Mayle sold 37,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.87, for a total value of $182,532.47. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 307,740 shares in the company, valued at $1,498,693.80. The trade was a 10.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen Winchell sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.98, for a total transaction of $99,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 431,844 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,150,583.12. The trade was a 4.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 8.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Honest

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Honest by 589.7% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 2,397,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,616,000 after purchasing an additional 2,049,981 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Honest by 869.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,546,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,716,000 after acquiring an additional 1,386,961 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Honest by 25.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,147,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,671,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052,305 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Honest by 103.5% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,046,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Honest by 1,504.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 851,436 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,040,000 after acquiring an additional 798,384 shares during the period. 45.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.