Is The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG) a good investment?
In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are a multitude of methods investors can use to track their holdings. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite money managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).
Just as useful, positive insider trading activity is a second way to analyze the world of equities. Just as you’d expect, there are a variety of reasons for an insider to sell shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Many empirical studies have demonstrated the useful potential of this tactic if investors know where to look (learn more here).
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s analyze the recent info for The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG).
What have hedge funds been doing with The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG)?
Heading into Q3, a total of 35 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 30% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.
According to our 13F database, Luxor Capital Group, managed by Christian Leone, holds the most valuable position in The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG). Luxor Capital Group has a $294.8 million position in the stock, comprising 8% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by GAMCO Investors, managed by Mario Gabelli, which held a $175.5 million position; the fund has 1.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other hedge funds that are bullish include John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments and Robert Boucai’s Newbrook Capital Advisors.
With a general bullishness amongst the titans, specific money managers were breaking ground themselves. Luxor Capital Group, managed by Christian Leone, assembled the biggest position in The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG). Luxor Capital Group had 294.8 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Mario Gabelli’s GAMCO Investors also made a $175.5 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new MSG investors: John Thaler’s JAT Capital Management, John W. Rogers’s Ariel Investments, and Robert Boucai’s Newbrook Capital Advisors.
How are insiders trading The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG)?
Insider buying made by high-level executives is best served when the company we’re looking at has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last six-month time frame, The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG). These stocks are Bona Film Group Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:BONA), World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE), IMAX Corporation (USA) (NYSE:IMAX), Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV), and Starz (NASDAQ:STRZA). This group of stocks are in the entertainment – diversified industry and their market caps are similar to MSG’s market cap.
Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
Bona Film Group Ltd (ADR) (NASDAQ:BONA) | 5 | 0 | 0 |
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:WWE) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
IMAX Corporation (USA) (NYSE:IMAX) | 18 | 0 | 0 |
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV) | 26 | 0 | 0 |
Starz (NASDAQ:STRZA) | 27 | 0 | 0 |
Using the results demonstrated by the previously mentioned tactics, average investors should always watch hedge fund and insider trading activity, and The Madison Square Garden Co (NASDAQ:MSG) is an important part of this process.