Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) has earned an average rating of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $497.1429.

MSI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 price objective (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value 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 represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total transaction of $13,590,508.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 90,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,360,101.95. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 in the last three months. 1.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSI. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. United Community Bank grew 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 valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Strategic Advocates LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, MidAtlantic Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Motorola Solutions in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of MSI opened at $468.86 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $432.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $422.75. 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 capitalization of $77.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.96. Motorola Solutions has a 1-year low of $359.36 and a 1-year high of $492.22.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Motorola Solutions will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $1.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.