Investors Purchase High Volume of Sony Group Call Options (NYSE:SONY)

Sony Group Co. (NYSE:SONY) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 4,322 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 32% compared to the average daily volume of 3,277 call options.

Sony Group Trading Up 7.9 %

NYSE:SONY opened at $23.00 on Thursday. Sony Group has a 52-week low of $15.02 and a 52-week high of $25.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.84. The company has a market capitalization of $139.10 billion, a PE ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.94.

Sony Group (NYSE:SONY) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.14. Sony Group had a net margin of 8.21% and a return on equity of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $28.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.32 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sony Group will post 1.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sony Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Sony Group by 379.5% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 101,995,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,158,232,000 after acquiring an additional 80,724,932 shares during the last quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sony Group by 393.7% in the 4th quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 52,771,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,116,653,000 after purchasing an additional 42,083,842 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sony Group by 425.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,420,092 shares of the company’s stock worth $961,089,000 after purchasing an additional 36,783,737 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Sony Group by 377.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,804,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $503,713,000 after buying an additional 18,821,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Management Inc. WI raised its position in shares of Sony Group by 377.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Management Inc. WI now owns 10,320,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $218,382,000 after buying an additional 8,157,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.05% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SONY. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Sony Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 target price (up from $25.00) on shares of Sony Group in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut Sony Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on Sony Group in a report on Thursday, January 16th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued a “peer perform” rating on shares of Sony Group in a report on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sony Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.00.

About Sony Group

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.