Hiroki Totoki Sells 225,000 Shares of Sony (NYSE:SONY) Stock

Sony Corporation (NYSE:SONY) CEO Hiroki Totoki sold 225,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.02, for a total transaction of $4,729,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 173,250 shares in the company, valued at $3,641,715. The trade was a 56.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Sony Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:SONY opened at $21.18 on Thursday. Sony Corporation has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $30.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market cap of $125.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -105.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.94.

Sony (NYSE:SONY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.22 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $19.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $18.43 billion. Sony had a negative net margin of 2.61% and a positive return on equity of 12.20%. Sony’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $32.86 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Sony Corporation will post 1.28 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sony

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sony by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,981,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,789,929,000 after acquiring an additional 4,337,062 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Sony by 245.0% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,049,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,044,000 after purchasing an additional 4,296,028 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Sony in the first quarter worth approximately $39,998,000. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Sony in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,989,000. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Sony in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,560,000. 14.05% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SONY shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $22.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of Sony in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Sony in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Sony in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.00.

Key Sony News

Here are the key news stories impacting Sony this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Sony CEO Hiroki Totoki sold 225,000 shares, while another insider, Toshimoto Mitomo, sold 25,000 shares. Large insider sales can weigh on sentiment because investors often view them as a lack of confidence or simple profit-taking. Hiroki Totoki Sells 225,000 Shares of Sony (NYSE:SONY) Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Jermaine Dupri filed an $18 million lawsuit against Sony over alleged unpaid royalties, creating legal uncertainty for Sony Music and raising concerns about possible costs or reputational damage. Jermaine Dupri sues Sony Music for $18 million in unpaid royalties
• Negative Sentiment: Backlash continues over reports that Sony is moving away from physical PlayStation discs, which could hurt gamer goodwill and add concerns about the company’s long-term gaming strategy. Don’t Kill The Disc Petition Urging Sony To Preserve Physical Media On PS6 Breaks 120,000 Signatures
• Neutral Sentiment: Sony continues to attract attention for product news, including a leaked OLED TV and reviews of its Bravia lineup, but these stories are not likely to move the stock much on their own. Sony Bravia 9 II review

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.