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

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

A number of other research firms also recently commented on MSGS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Madison Square Garden in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Madison Square Garden from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Seaport Research Partners increased 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. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Madison Square Garden from $429.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $403.00.

Madison Square Garden Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of MSGS stock opened at $396.04 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $375.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $329.94. The company 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 12 month low of $188.60 and a 12 month high of $411.73.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $432.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.66 million. Madison Square Garden’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.59) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Madison Square Garden will post -0.52 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Madison Square Garden

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MSGS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Madison Square Garden by 67.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 699,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $180,895,000 after acquiring an additional 282,318 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Madison Square Garden by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 648,515 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,739,000 after purchasing an additional 49,412 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its position in Madison Square Garden by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 613,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,654,000 after purchasing an additional 6,873 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Madison Square Garden by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 538,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,258,000 after purchasing an additional 15,656 shares during the period. Finally, Gabelli Funds LLC boosted its stake in Madison Square Garden by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 394,292 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,984,000 after purchasing an additional 3,607 shares during the period. 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.