Citigroup Downgrades Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) to Neutral

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) was downgraded by Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $355.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 5.91% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Madison Square Garden from $240.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Madison Square Garden from $356.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $333.80.

Madison Square Garden Price Performance

Shares of MSGS opened at $335.19 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $319.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $270.32. Madison Square Garden has a one year low of $184.63 and a one year high of $345.48. The company has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -485.78 and a beta of 0.59.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.32). The company had revenue of $403.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.58 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.05 EPS. Madison Square Garden’s revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Madison Square Garden will post -0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Charles P. Dolan sold 5,659 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.26, for a total value of $1,840,646.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141,488.10. This represents a 92.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 19.07% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Madison Square Garden

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 buying an additional 12,412 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Madison Square Garden by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 15,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,581,000 after buying an additional 3,700 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Madison Square Garden by 294.7% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 39,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,016,000 after buying an additional 29,656 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Madison Square Garden during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,052,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Madison Square Garden by 65,330.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 8,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,931,000 after buying an additional 8,493 shares during the last quarter. 68.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.