The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) was the target of a significant 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. Approximately 5.3% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Honest

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Honest

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HNST. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Honest in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Honest in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Zacks Investment Management purchased a new stake in shares of Honest in the 3rd quarter worth about $37,000. Utah Retirement Systems bought a new stake in shares of Honest during the 4th quarter valued at about $86,000. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Honest during the fourth quarter valued at about $89,000. 45.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Honest Price Performance

NASDAQ HNST traded down $0.57 during trading on Thursday, reaching $4.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,519,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,063,850. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $5.56 and a 200 day moving average of $5.58. Honest has a one year low of $2.40 and a one year high of $8.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $482.47 million, a PE ratio of -110.75 and a beta of 2.45.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.46 million. Research analysts expect that Honest will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.