StockNews.com Downgrades Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) to Hold

Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

SBH has been the topic of several other reports. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Sally Beauty from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on Sally Beauty in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James upgraded Sally Beauty from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen upgraded Sally Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $14.00 to $16.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Sally Beauty from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sally Beauty currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.20.

Sally Beauty Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SBH opened at $9.17 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $934.24 million, a P/E ratio of 6.37 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 2.20. Sally Beauty has a one year low of $9.06 and a one year high of $14.79. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.17.

Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The specialty retailer reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. Sally Beauty had a return on equity of 31.37% and a net margin of 4.13%. The company had revenue of $935.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $935.88 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. Sally Beauty’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sally Beauty will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Scott C. Sherman sold 13,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.49, for a total value of $195,615.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,431 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $614,825.19. The trade was a 24.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Kim Mcintosh sold 4,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.53, for a total value of $62,479.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,685 shares in the company, valued at $242,433.05. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.56% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sally Beauty

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SBH. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. bought a new stake in shares of Sally Beauty in the 4th quarter worth $9,413,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of Sally Beauty by 202.5% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 869,154 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $9,083,000 after purchasing an additional 581,877 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Sally Beauty by 269.8% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 732,845 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $7,658,000 after purchasing an additional 534,651 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Sally Beauty by 2.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,396,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $208,928,000 after purchasing an additional 387,736 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Sally Beauty by 341.1% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 471,528 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,927,000 after purchasing an additional 364,621 shares during the period.

About Sally Beauty

Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc operates as a specialty retailer and distributor of professional beauty supplies. The company operates through two segments, Sally Beauty Supply and Beauty Systems Group. The Sally Beauty Supply segment offers beauty products, including hair color and care products, skin and nail care products, styling tools, and other beauty products for retail customers, salons, and salon professionals.