The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts maintain a “Hold” consensus on Honest Company, with two sell, four hold, two buy and one strong-buy rating among nine analysts. The average 12-month price target is $4.84.
• Honest’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, reporting $0.04 EPS versus $0.01 expected and revenue of $80.19 million versus $77.83 million forecast, supporting its turnaround narrative.
• Institutional ownership stands at approximately 45.5% following new and expanded positions, while executives—including CEO Carla Vernon—sold shares under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans; insiders still own about 9.4% of the company.

Shares of The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the nine analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $4.84.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Honest from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (d)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on shares of Honest from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. B. Riley Financial increased their target price on shares of Honest from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Alliance Global Partners reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Honest in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Honest from $3.40 to $5.70 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th.

Key Honest News

Here are the key news stories impacting Honest this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Honest’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings of $0.04 per share versus the $0.01 consensus estimate and revenue of $80.19 million versus $77.83 million expected. Analysts currently forecast approximately $0.05 in full-year EPS, supporting the company’s turnaround narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional interest has strengthened. BlackRock established an approximately $25.7 million position, while Balyasny Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and UBS increased their holdings. Institutional investors and hedge funds now own roughly 45.5% of the shares.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment has improved, including Morgan Stanley’s price-target increase to $5.70, Northland Securities’ $5.50 target and rating upgrades from Freedom Capital and Wall Street Zen. These revisions reinforce the view that Honest’s recent momentum could continue, although the overall consensus remains “Hold.” Honest turnaround analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was listed at zero shares, with a zero-day days-to-cover ratio. Because the data shows no measurable short position and includes an invalid percentage change, it provides little reliable information about current trading pressure.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple executives sold shares acquired near $4.99–$5.01, including CEO Carla Vernon’s 117,893 shares and sales by several senior executives and the general counsel. The transactions totaled roughly 150,854 shares and $753,000. The sales were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, and the insiders retained sizable stakes, reducing—but not eliminating—the negative signal for investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Carla Vernon sold 117,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.99, for a total transaction of $588,286.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,828,558 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,104,504.42. The trade was a 2.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Dorria L. Ball sold 6,812 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.99, for a total value of $33,991.88. Following the sale, the insider owned 418,584 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,088,734.16. This trade represents a 1.60% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 294,149 shares of company stock worth $1,503,306 over the last three months. Company insiders own 9.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in Honest during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $86,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Honest in the 2nd quarter valued at $715,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in Honest in the second quarter valued at $140,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Honest during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Honest during the 2nd quarter worth about $94,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.54% of the company's stock.

Honest Trading Up 6.0%

HNST opened at $5.51 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $4.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.41. Honest has a 12-month low of $2.07 and a 12-month high of $5.84. The firm has a market cap of $606.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.09 and a beta of 2.12.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $80.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.83 million. Honest had a positive return on equity of 4.31% and a negative net margin of 3.56%. On average, research analysts forecast that Honest will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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