New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Holdings in The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST)

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) by 39.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 197,346 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,699 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.20% of Honest worth $1,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HNST. Valmark Advisers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Honest by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 163,015 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,735 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in Honest by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 80,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 5,330 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 7,379 shares during the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Honest in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management acquired a new position in Honest during the third quarter worth about $37,000. 45.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on HNST. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Honest in a report on Thursday. Alliance Global Partners upped their target price on Honest from $5.75 to $8.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Loop Capital lowered Honest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of Honest from $7.50 to $9.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Honest from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Three equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Jessica Warren sold 465,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.55, for a total transaction of $3,510,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,170,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,833,937.90. This represents a 28.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 8.60% of the company’s stock.

Honest Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ HNST opened at $5.40 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $6.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.47. The company has a market capitalization of $588.11 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.00 and a beta of 2.43. The Honest Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2.40 and a 1 year high of $8.97.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $99.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.46 million. Honest had a negative return on equity of 3.26% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Honest Company, Inc. will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current 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.