Sony (NYSE:SONY) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Sony Corporation (NYSE:SONY) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $20.15, but opened at $21.51. Sony shares last traded at $21.4250, with a volume of 3,483,395 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SONY shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $22.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of Sony in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Sony in a report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Sony from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Sony from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Sony Stock Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $21.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.22. The stock has a market cap of $127.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -106.74, a P/E/G ratio of 6.97 and a beta of 0.92.

Sony (NYSE:SONY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.13). Sony had a negative net margin of 1.44% and a positive return on equity of 13.59%. The business had revenue of $19.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $32.86 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sony Corporation will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sony

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Sony by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,981,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,789,929,000 after buying an additional 4,337,062 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD bought a new position in shares of Sony during the 3rd quarter valued at about $277,631,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Sony by 23.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,446,889 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,534,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,271 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Sony by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,778,922 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,539,000 after purchasing an additional 657,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Sony by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,076,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $129,973,000 after acquiring an additional 74,768 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.05% of the company’s stock.

About Sony

Sony Group Corporation (NYSE: SONY) is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. Founded in 1946 by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, Sony has grown from an electronics maker into a diversified global company with operations spanning consumer electronics, entertainment, gaming, semiconductors and financial services. The company’s shares trade in Japan and its American Depositary Receipts trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SONY.

Sony’s primary businesses include Electronics Products & Solutions, which covers televisions, audio equipment, digital cameras and professional broadcast systems; Game & Network Services, anchored by the PlayStation platform, consoles, software and online services; Music and Pictures, through Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment, producing, distributing and licensing recorded music, film and television content; Imaging & Sensing Solutions, which develops CMOS image sensors and other semiconductor components; and Financial Services, offering life insurance, banking and other financial products in Japan.