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

Sony Corporation (NYSE:SONY)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $27.74, but opened at $28.99. Sony shares last traded at $28.81, with a volume of 1,191,567 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sony from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sony presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Sony Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.76. The stock has a market cap of $173.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Sony (NYSE:SONY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.06. Sony had a net margin of 9.14% and a return on equity of 13.88%. The firm had revenue of $17.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $189.90 EPS. Analysts forecast that Sony Corporation will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SONY. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Sony by 422.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,908 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 16,094 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Sony during the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sony by 557.8% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $163,000 after acquiring an additional 6,526 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sony by 344.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,186,971 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,116,000 after acquiring an additional 920,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sony during the 4th quarter worth approximately $231,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.05% of the company’s stock.

About Sony

Sony Group Corporation designs, develops, produces, and sells electronic equipment, instruments, and devices for the consumer, professional, and industrial markets in Japan, the United States, Europe, China, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company distributes software titles and add-on content through digital networks; network services related to game, video, and music content; and home gaming consoles, packaged and game software, and peripheral devices.