Bank of Nova Scotia Boosts Stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 136,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,157 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $62,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the second quarter worth about $872,307,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $230,743,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,386,519 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,292,310,000 after acquiring an additional 490,354 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 116.5% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 841,463 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $384,793,000 after acquiring an additional 452,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Motorola Solutions by 56.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,203,661 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $550,422,000 after acquiring an additional 435,178 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of Motorola Solutions 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $43,360,101.95. The trade was a 23.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. The trade was a 42.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on MSI. Piper Sandler reaffirmed 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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 on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Trading Up 2.3%

Motorola Solutions stock opened at $473.41 on Monday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 1 year low of $359.36 and a 1 year high of $492.22. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $429.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.77. 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 has a market cap of $78.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. Motorola Solutions’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.04 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share 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 issued a $1.21 dividend. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is 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.