The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $4.84.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on HNST shares. B. Riley Financial upped their target price on Honest from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Honest from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Honest from $3.40 to $5.70 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Freedom Capital raised Honest from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Honest from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

Honest Price Performance

Shares of HNST stock opened at $5.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4.93 and a 200-day moving average of $3.90. Honest has a one year low of $2.07 and a one year high of $6.01. The company has a market cap of $581.22 million, a P/E ratio of -48.00 and a beta of 2.24.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. Honest had a negative net margin of 3.56% and a positive return on equity of 4.31%. The business had revenue of $80.19 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.83 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Honest will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Honest

In related news, Director Andrea Turner sold 34,396 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.30, for a total transaction of $182,298.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 282,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,496,211.20. This trade represents a 10.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Brendan Sheehey sold 9,664 shares of Honest stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.99, for a total transaction of $48,223.36. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 706,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,524,057.76. This represents a 1.35% 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. Insiders have sold 294,149 shares of company stock valued at $1,503,306 in the last 90 days. 9.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Honest

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HNST. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Honest by 45.8% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 7,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP bought a new stake in shares of Honest in the second quarter valued at $87,000. Amundi bought a new stake in shares of Honest in the second quarter valued at $44,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Honest during the 2nd quarter valued at $715,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Honest during the 2nd quarter valued at $140,000. Institutional investors own 45.54% of the company’s stock.

Honest Company Profile

The Honest Company, Inc (NASDAQ: HNST) is a consumer goods company that develops and sells personal care, beauty, baby, and household products. Its product portfolio includes diapers, wipes, skin care, bath and body products, personal care items, cosmetics, and household cleaning products, with an emphasis on ingredient transparency and product design.

Founded in 2011, the company initially built its business primarily through direct-to-consumer sales and subscription offerings before expanding its retail presence.