Insider Selling: Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) CEO Sells 129,335 Shares of Stock

The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) CEO Carla Vernon sold 129,335 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.85, for a total value of $368,604.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 4,065,546 shares in the company, valued at $11,586,806.10. This represents a 3.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Honest Stock Down 4.1%

HNST traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $2.81. The stock had a trading volume of 2,349,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,034,835. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.04. The Honest Company, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2.07 and a 1 year high of $5.55. The stock has a market cap of $316.05 million, a PE ratio of -20.07 and a beta of 2.27.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 4.22% and a positive return on equity of 4.57%. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Honest Company, Inc. will post -0.07 EPS for the current year.

Honest declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Friday, February 20th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 9.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on HNST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Honest in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered Honest from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Zacks Research cut Honest from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. Telsey Advisory Group restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $3.00 target price on shares of Honest in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Honest in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $3.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Honest

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HNST. Mak Capital One LLC purchased a new position in Honest during the fourth quarter worth about $9,104,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Honest by 796.2% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,006,646 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,782,742 shares during the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $25,495,000 after purchasing an additional 710,651 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $3,922,000 after purchasing an additional 627,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in shares of Honest by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,014,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,619,000 after purchasing an additional 442,542 shares during 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.