Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SBH) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $9.18, but opened at $10.18. Sally Beauty shares last traded at $9.39, with a volume of 542,470 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SBH. StockNews.com cut Sally Beauty from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Sally Beauty from $12.00 to $10.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Sally Beauty from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen raised Sally Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Raymond James raised Sally Beauty from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.20.

Sally Beauty Trading Down 3.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $943.51 million, a P/E ratio of 6.43 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.14. 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 (NYSE:SBH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The specialty retailer reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. Sally Beauty had a return on equity of 31.37% and a net margin of 4.13%. On average, research analysts forecast that Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. will post 1.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sally Beauty

In related news, insider Scott C. Sherman sold 13,500 shares of Sally Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.49, for a total transaction of $195,615.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,431 shares in the company, valued at $614,825.19. The trade was a 24.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Kim Mcintosh sold 4,300 shares of Sally Beauty stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.53, for a total value of $62,479.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 16,685 shares in the company, valued at $242,433.05. This represents a 20.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.56% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sally Beauty

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SBH. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Sally Beauty in the third quarter worth $771,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Sally Beauty by 36.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 212,159 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,878,000 after acquiring an additional 56,879 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Sally Beauty by 2.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,396,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $208,928,000 after acquiring an additional 387,736 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Sally Beauty by 306.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 341,465 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,634,000 after acquiring an additional 257,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sally Beauty by 3.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,546,108 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $34,551,000 after acquiring an additional 80,712 shares in the last quarter.

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.