Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

HNST has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Honest in a report on Friday, January 16th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and set a $3.00 price target on shares of Honest in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research raised Honest from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Honest in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $3.00 target price on Honest in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Honest has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $3.00.

Honest Price Performance

Shares of HNST opened at $2.82 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $317.17 million, a P/E ratio of -20.14 and a beta of 2.16. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.89. Honest has a 1 year low of $2.07 and a 1 year high of $5.55.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.23). The business had revenue of $88.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $88.57 million. Honest had a positive return on equity of 4.57% and a negative net margin of 4.22%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Honest will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Honest declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Friday, February 20th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 9.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Honest

In other Honest news, SVP Kunssberg Etienne Von sold 12,179 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.85, for a total value of $34,710.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 308,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $879,823.50. The trade was a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Brendan Sheehey sold 22,556 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.85, for a total transaction of $64,284.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 725,672 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,068,165.20. This trade represents a 3.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 191,894 shares of company stock worth $546,898 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 8.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HNST. Mak Capital One LLC bought a new position in Honest during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,104,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Honest by 796.2% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,006,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,177,000 after buying an additional 1,782,742 shares during the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Honest by 11.4% during the third quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 6,928,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,495,000 after buying an additional 710,651 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Honest by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,520,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,922,000 after buying an additional 627,537 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Honest by 77.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,014,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,619,000 after acquiring an additional 442,542 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.54% of the company’s stock.

About Honest

The Honest Company, Inc (NASDAQ: HNST) is an American consumer goods firm specializing in eco-friendly and responsibly formulated products for babies, personal care, beauty and home cleaning. The company emphasizes transparency in ingredient sourcing and product safety, positioning itself in the premium segment of mass-market retail and direct-to-consumer channels.

Honest was founded in 2011 by actress Jessica Alba and environmental health advocate Christopher Gavigan with a mission to offer parents household and baby care items free from harsh chemicals and synthetic fragrances.