Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

The Madison Square Garden Company (NYSE:MSGS) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $293.78, but opened at $323.79. Madison Square Garden shares last traded at $336.16, with a volume of 540,846 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSGS. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Madison Square Garden in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Madison Square Garden from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Madison Square Garden in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Madison Square Garden from $290.00 to $337.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Madison Square Garden has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $280.00.

Madison Square Garden Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $268.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $233.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -494.04 and a beta of 0.61.

Madison Square Garden (NYSE:MSGS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. Madison Square Garden’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Madison Square Garden Company will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Madison Square Garden by 67.7% in 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. Reinhart Partners LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Madison Square Garden during the fourth quarter worth about $55,586,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Madison Square Garden in the 4th quarter worth about $51,107,000. TOMS Capital Investment Management LP boosted its stake in Madison Square Garden by 82.7% during the 4th quarter. TOMS Capital Investment Management LP now owns 329,705 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,278,000 after purchasing an additional 149,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bollard Group LLC bought a new stake in Madison Square Garden during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,283,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.94% of the company’s stock.

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.