Short Interest in The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) Decreases By 17.7%

The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,730,000 shares, a drop of 17.7% from the February 28th total of 5,750,000 shares. Currently, 5.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,640,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Honest in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Loop Capital cut shares of Honest from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Honest from $7.50 to $9.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Honest

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HNST. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Honest in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $932,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Honest during the fourth quarter valued at $352,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Honest during the fourth quarter worth approximately $159,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its stake in shares of Honest by 642.4% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 326,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,259,000 after buying an additional 282,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Honest by 317.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 200,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,387,000 after buying an additional 152,200 shares in the last quarter. 45.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Honest Price Performance

Shares of HNST traded up $0.22 on Wednesday, reaching $5.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,908,983 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,065,668. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.58. Honest has a 12-month low of $2.40 and a 12-month high of $8.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $544.55 million, a P/E ratio of -125.00 and a beta of 2.45.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $99.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.46 million. Honest had a negative return on equity of 3.26% and a negative net margin of 1.13%. Analysts expect that Honest will post -0.07 earnings per share for the current year.

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.