Bank of Nova Scotia Boosts Holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 136,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,157 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.08% of Motorola Solutions worth $62,374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 24.8% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 281,182 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $128,582,000 after buying an additional 55,883 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 3.2% during the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 6,885 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,148,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Credit Agricole S A bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,351,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,433,482 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,570,096,000 after acquiring an additional 31,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,312,744 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $600,095,000 after acquiring an additional 124,876 shares during the last quarter. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Northcoast Research raised Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $497.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total value of $3,297,070.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. This trade represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total transaction of $13,590,508.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 90,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,360,101.95. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964 in the last quarter. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

NYSE MSI opened at $473.41 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $429.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 1-year low of $359.36 and a 1-year high of $492.22.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $4.04 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.21 per share. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 37.93%.

Motorola Solutions Company Profile

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.