Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MSGS. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Madison Square Garden in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup increased their target price on Madison Square Garden from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Seaport Research Partners upped their price target on shares of Madison Square Garden from $430.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Madison Square Garden presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $403.00.

Madison Square Garden Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of MSGS stock opened at $396.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -425.84 and a beta of 0.61. Madison Square Garden has a 52 week low of $188.60 and a 52 week high of $411.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $375.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $329.94.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.83) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($1.39). The firm had revenue of $432.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $429.66 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.59) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Madison Square Garden will post -0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Madison Square Garden

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSGS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Madison Square Garden by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 117,905 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,412 shares during the last quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC grew its position in Madison Square Garden by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 394,292 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,984,000 after acquiring an additional 3,607 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Madison Square Garden by 1,394.6% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,241,000 after acquiring an additional 15,299 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Madison Square Garden by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 11,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,051,000 after purchasing an additional 3,288 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its position in shares of Madison Square Garden by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 613,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $158,654,000 after purchasing an additional 6,873 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.94% of the company’s stock.

About Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden Sports Corp (NYSE: MSGS) is a leading sports and entertainment holding company focused on professional sports franchises and related media assets. The company owns and operates teams such as the NBA’s New York Knicks, the NHL’s New York Rangers and the WNBA’s New York Liberty. Through these flagship franchises, MSG Sports offers a range of products and services including ticketing, premium seating and sponsorship opportunities, targeting fans in the New York metropolitan area and beyond.

In addition to team operations, Madison Square Garden Sports Corp holds a majority stake in MSG Networks, a regional cable network that broadcasts live sporting events, news and original programming.