Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

The Madison Square Garden Company (NYSE:MSGS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $345.48 and last traded at $343.1920, with a volume of 9789 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $339.74.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSGS shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $430.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Madison Square Garden in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Madison Square Garden from $240.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $312.80.

Madison Square Garden Trading Up 0.1%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $312.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $266.23. The firm has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a PE ratio of -495.78 and a beta of 0.59.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $403.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.58 million. Madison Square Garden’s revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.05 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Madison Square Garden Company will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Madison Square Garden

In other news, Director Charles P. Dolan sold 5,659 shares of Madison Square Garden stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.26, for a total transaction of $1,840,646.34. Following the transaction, the director owned 435 shares in the company, valued at $141,488.10. This trade represents a 92.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 19.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position 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 valued at $26,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,412 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $3,581,000 after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $9,016,000 after purchasing an additional 29,656 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Madison Square Garden during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,052,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $1,931,000 after purchasing an additional 8,493 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.94% of the company’s stock.

Madison Square Garden Company Profile

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.