Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $495.00.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays reduced their target price on Motorola Solutions from $509.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Northcoast Research raised Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $465.00 target price (down from $495.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Friday, October 31st.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE:MSI opened at $383.12 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.59. Motorola Solutions has a twelve month low of $359.36 and a twelve month high of $492.22. The company has a fifty day moving average of $383.39 and a 200-day moving average of $424.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.00.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $4.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.85 by $0.21. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 118.48%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.74 earnings per share. Motorola Solutions’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.21 per share. This is an increase from Motorola Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 15th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 38.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 1st quarter valued at $1,226,000. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in Motorola Solutions by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 6,671 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,921,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at $8,191,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 57.0% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 348,852 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $151,765,000 after acquiring an additional 126,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

About Motorola Solutions

Motorola Solutions, Inc is a provider of mission-critical communications and analytics solutions for public safety and commercial customers. The company designs, manufactures and supports a range of communications equipment and software aimed at enabling first responders, government agencies and enterprises to coordinate and operate reliably in high-pressure environments. Its offerings emphasize secure, resilient connectivity and situational awareness for organizations that require dependable voice, data and video communications.

Product lines include land mobile radio (LMR) systems and handheld and vehicle-mounted radios used by police, fire and emergency medical services; broadband push-to-talk and LTE-based solutions; command-and-control center software for incident management and records; and video security and analytics systems.