Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 282,291 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 10.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,301,924 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 282,291 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 1.38% of Motorola Solutions worth $1,052,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Covea Finance lifted its stake in Motorola Solutions by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covea Finance now owns 111,219 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $50,859,000 after acquiring an additional 6,153 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Motorola Solutions by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,345,492 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $615,280,000 after acquiring an additional 227,062 shares during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,701 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 180.3% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 19,899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,100,000 after purchasing an additional 12,799 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 81.3% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 103,760 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,627,000 after purchasing an additional 46,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Motorola Solutions

In other news, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. This trade represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the sale, the director directly owned 7,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. 1.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of MSI opened at $473.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $78.43 billion, a PE ratio of 37.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $429.21 and a 200-day moving average of $423.07. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $359.36 and a one year high of $492.22. 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 (NYSE:MSI) last released 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 firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $4.04 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 1.0%. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSI. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $499.00 price objective (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price 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.