Ascent Group LLC Makes New $306,000 Investment in Sony Corporation $SONY

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC acquired 12,047 shares in Sony Corporation, valued at approximately $306,000, marking a new stake for the fund in Q1.
• Several institutional investors, including Royal Bank of Canada and Ameriprise Financial Inc., significantly increased their holdings in Sony during the recent quarter.
• Analysts have recently moved Sony's rating from buy to hold, with an average target price set at $28.00, though some analysts still maintain a buy rating.

Ascent Group LLC purchased a new position in Sony Corporation (NYSE:SONY - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 12,047 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Sony by 3.4% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,845,521 shares of the company's stock valued at $199,198,000 after purchasing an additional 257,838 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Sony by 416.6% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,796,210 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,649,000 after purchasing an additional 4,674,249 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Sony during the first quarter valued at approximately $78,905,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Sony by 124.5% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,060,705 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,814,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142,849 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Sony by 0.4% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,753,173 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,513,000 after purchasing an additional 6,297 shares during the period. 14.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sony Price Performance

NYSE:SONY traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $29.36. The company had a trading volume of 2,898,925 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,045,037. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.40. Sony Corporation has a one year low of $17.42 and a one year high of $29.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Sony (NYSE:SONY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.06. Sony had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 9.14%.The firm had revenue of $17.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $18.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $189.90 earnings per share. Sony has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts forecast that Sony Corporation will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut Sony from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.00.

Sony Profile

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.