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

Key Points

• Citigroup downgraded Madison Square Garden from "buy" to "neutral" with a $355 price target, implying roughly a 5.9% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but averages to a "Hold" rating with an average target of $333.80, even as firms like Guggenheim and Susquehanna raised targets to $401 and $388 respectively.
• MSGS missed on EPS ($0.34 vs. $0.66 estimate) despite 12.7% revenue growth year-over-year; the stock trades near $335 with a market cap of $8.07 billion and a negative P/E.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Citigroup from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $355.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup's price target indicates a potential upside of 5.91% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim raised their price target on Madison Square Garden from $355.00 to $401.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings raised Madison Square Garden from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Madison Square Garden from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on 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 boosted their price target on Madison Square Garden from $356.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $333.80.

Madison Square Garden Price Performance

NYSE MSGS opened at $335.19 on Thursday. Madison Square Garden has a fifty-two week low of $184.63 and a fifty-two week high of $345.48. The stock's 50-day moving average is $319.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $270.32. The firm has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -485.78 and a beta of 0.59.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.32). The firm had revenue of $403.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.58 million. The business's revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Madison Square Garden will post -0.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Madison Square Garden news, Director Charles P. Dolan sold 5,659 shares of Madison Square Garden stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.26, for a total transaction of $1,840,646.34. Following the sale, the director directly owned 435 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $141,488.10. The trade was a 92.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 19.07% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Madison Square Garden

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $180,895,000 after purchasing an additional 282,318 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $167,739,000 after acquiring an additional 49,412 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $158,654,000 after acquiring an additional 6,873 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Madison Square Garden by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 538,404 shares of the company's stock worth $139,258,000 after acquiring an additional 15,656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Madison Square Garden by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 455,042 shares of the company's stock worth $103,295,000 after acquiring an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter. 68.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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