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

Shares of The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.42.

HNST has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Honest in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Northland Securities upped their price objective on Honest from $7.50 to $9.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered shares of Honest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, December 17th.

Honest Price Performance

Shares of HNST opened at $5.07 on Wednesday. Honest has a 1 year low of $2.40 and a 1 year high of $8.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.55. The firm has a market cap of $552.17 million, a P/E ratio of -126.75 and a beta of 2.45.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Jonathan Mayle sold 37,481 shares of Honest stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.87, for a total transaction of $182,532.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 307,740 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,498,693.80. The trade was a 10.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen Winchell sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,150,583.12. The trade was a 4.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 8.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Honest

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Honest in the third quarter worth about $569,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Honest by 216.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 545,323 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 372,749 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Honest in the third quarter valued at approximately $103,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Honest by 3.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 225,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $805,000 after purchasing an additional 7,379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Honest by 98.7% during the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 126,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 62,650 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.54% of the company’s stock.

Honest Company Profile

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.