Banco Santander S.A. Lowers Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Banco Santander S.A. lessened its stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 13.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,153 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 7,652 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $22,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Motorola Solutions by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 944 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.0% during the second quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 2,452 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,031,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 0.3% during the second quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,833,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 0.6% during the third quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. now owns 3,893 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Motorola Solutions by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC now owns 701 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of MSI opened at $471.48 on Friday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 1 year low of $359.36 and a 1 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $408.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $422.73. The firm has a market cap of $78.11 billion, a PE ratio of 36.95, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.00.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $0.24. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.21 per share. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total value of $23,404,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,167 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,078,401.03. The trade was a 51.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSI shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reiterated 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered Motorola Solutions from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, December 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.