Covea Finance Buys 8,810 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Covea Finance increased its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,029 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,810 shares during the quarter. Motorola Solutions accounts for 1.5% of Covea Finance’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Covea Finance owned 0.07% of Motorola Solutions worth $46,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MSI. Barden Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Barden Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,243 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co of the South bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 4th quarter worth about $319,000. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its position in Motorola Solutions by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 11,253 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $4,314,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Motorola Solutions by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,928 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,796,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 48.5% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 31,379 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,349,000 after acquiring an additional 10,253 shares during the period. 84.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 1.4%

MSI stock opened at $452.67 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $437.49 and a 200-day moving average of $423.18. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $359.36 and a fifty-two week high of $492.22. The company has a market capitalization of $74.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.48, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is 37.93%.

Insider Activity at Motorola Solutions

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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total transaction of $204,032.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,362,768.36. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. 1.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSI shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Motorola Solutions presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $497.14.

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.