Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) Upgraded at Truist Financial

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

MSI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, 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 report on Monday, December 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $502.50.

Motorola Solutions Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:MSI opened at $434.19 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $445.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $420.70. Motorola Solutions has a 12 month low of $359.36 and a 12 month high of $492.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. The stock has a market cap of $71.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.99.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.24. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.04 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Motorola Solutions will post 13.55 EPS 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 given a $1.21 dividend. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is currently 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total transaction of $23,404,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,167 shares in the company, valued at $22,078,401.03. This trade represents a 51.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the third quarter valued at $25,000. United Community Bank raised its position in Motorola Solutions by 81.3% in the 3rd quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.