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

Key Points

• Madison Square Garden hit a new 52-week high intraday at $345.48 and last traded around $343.19, trading well above its 50-day ($312.75) and 200-day ($266.23) moving averages.
• Analysts are mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus Hold with a $312.80 target, but several upgrades include Seaport's $430 target and Susquehanna's $388 target, while JPMorgan raised its target to $305 and kept an Overweight rating.
• The company missed quarterly EPS estimates ($0.34 vs. $0.66) despite revenue rising 12.7% to $403.4M, and Director Charles P. Dolan sold 5,659 shares—reducing his ownership by about 92.9%.

The Madison Square Garden Company (NYSE:MSGS - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $345.48 and last traded at $343.1920, with a volume of 9789 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $339.74.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSGS. 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. Seaport Research Partners upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $430.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Madison Square Garden in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target 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 stock a "positive" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Madison Square Garden presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $312.80.

Madison Square Garden Stock Up 0.1%

The firm has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a PE ratio of -495.78 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $312.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $266.23.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.32). The business had revenue of $403.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.58 million. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Madison Square Garden Company will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Madison Square Garden

In other news, Director Charles P. Dolan sold 5,659 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 435 shares in the company, valued at $141,488.10. This represents a 92.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 19.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Madison Square Garden

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its holdings in shares of Madison Square Garden by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 157 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Madison Square Garden by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 196 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Madison Square Garden by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 1,924 shares of the company's stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Madison Square Garden by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the company's stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its holdings in shares of Madison Square Garden by 2.7% during the third quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 1,765 shares of the company's stock valued at $401,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. 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.

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