Blair William & Co. IL Boosts Position in Sony Corporation (NYSE:SONY)

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL increased its holdings in Sony by 149.7% in Q1, reaching a total of 58,033 shares valued at approximately $1.47 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have significantly raised their investments in Sony, with Northern Trust Corp boosting its stake by 609.6% in Q4.
• Wall Street analysts have recently downgraded Sony from a "buy" to a "hold" rating, leading to a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a price target of $28.00.

Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in Sony Corporation (NYSE:SONY - Free Report) by 149.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,033 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,796 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in Sony were worth $1,473,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sony by 422.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $421,000 after buying an additional 16,094 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD grew its position in Sony by 358.2% during the 4th quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD now owns 10,138,119 shares of the company's stock worth $223,039,000 after acquiring an additional 7,925,643 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new position in Sony during the 4th quarter worth approximately $200,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Sony by 308.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 127,264 shares of the company's stock worth $2,693,000 after acquiring an additional 96,102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.05% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered Sony from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $28.00.

Sony Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE SONY traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $27.73. 2,315,993 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,235,556. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $25.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.65. Sony Corporation has a 52 week low of $17.42 and a 52 week high of $28.04. The company has a market cap of $167.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01 and a beta of 0.91.

Sony (NYSE:SONY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $17.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.88 billion. Sony had a return on equity of 13.88% and a net margin of 9.14%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $189.90 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sony Corporation will post 1.23 EPS for the current year.

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.