Acadian Asset Management LLC Has $6.71 Million Stock Position in The Honest Company, Inc. $HNST

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in The Honest Company by 35%, selling 769,255 shares, bringing its holdings to approximately 1.30% of the company.
• Analysts have downgraded Honest's stock ratings, with Morgan Stanley lowering its price target from $5.50 to $4.25, while the stock currently has an average price target of $6.96.
• Insider selling has occurred recently, with CEO Carla Vernon selling 99,328 shares at an average price of $3.65, reducing her ownership in the company.

Acadian Asset Management LLC cut its position in shares of The Honest Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNST - Free Report) by 35.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,428,453 shares of the company's stock after selling 769,255 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC owned 1.30% of Honest worth $6,711,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of HNST. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Honest during the 1st quarter valued at $10,554,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Honest by 98.8% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,073,471 shares of the company's stock valued at $14,445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527,080 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Honest by 103.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 2,046,868 shares of the company's stock worth $14,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041,040 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Honest by 138.2% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 899,726 shares of the company's stock worth $4,229,000 after acquiring an additional 522,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Honest by 642.4% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 326,011 shares of the company's stock worth $2,259,000 after acquiring an additional 282,098 shares in the last quarter. 45.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HNST has been the subject of several research reports. Telsey Advisory Group reduced their price objective on Honest from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered Honest from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Honest from $5.50 to $4.25 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Honest currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $6.96.

Insider Transactions at Honest

In other news, CEO Carla Vernon sold 99,328 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.65, for a total value of $362,547.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,998,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,946,324.45. This trade represents a 3.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Brendan Sheehey sold 12,059 shares of Honest stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.65, for a total value of $44,015.35. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 568,588 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,075,346.20. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 131,890 shares of company stock valued at $481,399 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 8.90% of the company's stock.

Honest Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of Honest stock traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $4.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,620,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,898,011. The firm has a market capitalization of $454.54 million, a P/E ratio of 81.72 and a beta of 2.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.62. The Honest Company, Inc. has a 1-year low of $3.32 and a 1-year high of $8.97.

Honest (NASDAQ:HNST - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $93.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.18 million. Honest had a return on equity of 3.84% and a net margin of 1.66%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Honest Company, Inc. 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.