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

Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $497.1429.

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSI. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Argus upgraded Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the sale, the director 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,488,254.29. This trade represents a 42.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964 in the last 90 days. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

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

Motorola Solutions Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of MSI stock opened at $468.86 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization 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 has a 1 year low of $359.36 and a 1 year high of $492.22. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $432.73 and its 200 day simple moving average 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.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $4.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Motorola Solutions will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

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