Bell Asset Management Ltd Sells 5,785 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Bell Asset Management Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 38.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,216 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,785 shares during the period. Motorola Solutions makes up about 1.2% of Bell Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $4,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth about $25,000. United Community Bank increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Field & Main Bank bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth $38,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 price target (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One investment 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $497.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total value of $13,590,508.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 90,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,360,101.95. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total transaction of $3,297,070.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. This represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE MSI opened at $461.11 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $359.36 and a 12-month high of $492.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $420.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.96.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $0.24. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company earned $4.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid 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 1.0%. Motorola Solutions’s dividend 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.