Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI Shares Sold by Achmea Investment Management B.V.

Achmea Investment Management B.V. reduced its stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 40.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,931 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 32,971 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $22,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covea Finance lifted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.9% during the third quarter. Covea Finance now owns 111,219 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $50,859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,153 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 20.3% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,345,492 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $615,280,000 after purchasing an additional 227,062 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 8.4% in the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,701 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Motorola Solutions by 81.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 103,760 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,627,000 after buying an additional 46,518 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the company’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 value of $13,590,508.25. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 three months, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. Company insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MSI shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research raised 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. Argus upgraded Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Motorola Solutions stock opened at $468.86 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $77.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.96. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $359.36 and a one year high of $492.22. The business has a fifty day moving average of $432.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $422.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.04 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be issued a $1.21 dividend. 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 37.93%.

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.