Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) Given New $10.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the specialty retailer’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Sally Beauty from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen upgraded Sally Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Sally Beauty in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Sally Beauty from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Sally Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sally Beauty presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.20.

Sally Beauty Stock Performance

SBH stock opened at $11.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 7.81 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. Sally Beauty has a 12-month low of $9.06 and a 12-month high of $14.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $12.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.24.

Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The specialty retailer reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $935.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $935.88 million. Sally Beauty had a net margin of 4.13% and a return on equity of 31.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sally Beauty will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Sally Beauty in the second quarter worth $11,796,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Sally Beauty by 34.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,287,674 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $35,276,000 after buying an additional 833,720 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Sally Beauty by 945.0% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 847,956 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $9,099,000 after acquiring an additional 766,815 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Sally Beauty by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,396,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $208,928,000 after purchasing an additional 387,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sally Beauty by 306.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 341,465 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,634,000 after purchasing an additional 257,510 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.