Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 230,661 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Congress Asset Management Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 92.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,072 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 230,661 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $7,311,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MSI. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. United Community Bank boosted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 81.3% in the third quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions during the third quarter valued at $33,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSI shares. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Argus raised shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $454.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $75.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a PEG ratio of 3.19 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $440.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.10.

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

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $1.21 per share. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.93%.

Insider Transactions at Motorola Solutions

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 90,721 shares in the company, valued at $43,360,101.95. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total transaction of $204,032.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at $3,362,768.36. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 over the last three months. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.