Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 19,153 Shares of Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SBH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SBH) by 3.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 529,852 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,153 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Sally Beauty were worth $7,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Foundry Partners LLC purchased a new position in Sally Beauty during the second quarter valued at approximately $535,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Sally Beauty during the 3rd quarter valued at $771,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Sally Beauty by 36.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 212,159 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,878,000 after buying an additional 56,879 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sally Beauty by 141.3% in the 2nd quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 262,481 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,816,000 after buying an additional 153,707 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Sally Beauty by 2.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,396,347 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $208,928,000 after acquiring an additional 387,736 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on SBH. DA Davidson increased their target price on Sally Beauty from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Sally Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 23rd. TD Cowen raised shares of Sally Beauty from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $16.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James raised shares of Sally Beauty from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Sally Beauty from $8.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sally Beauty currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.50.

Insider Activity

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

Sally Beauty Stock Up 4.5 %

NYSE SBH opened at $10.45 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.20. Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. has a one year low of $9.06 and a one year high of $14.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 2.20. The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.26 and a beta of 1.51.

Sally Beauty (NYSE:SBH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 14th. The specialty retailer reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $935.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $935.88 million. Sally Beauty had a net margin of 4.13% and a return on equity of 31.37%. The business’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.