Clear Trail Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 23,677 Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Clear Trail Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 23,677 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,076,000. Motorola Solutions makes up approximately 2.1% of Clear Trail Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the third quarter worth $25,000. United Community Bank increased its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 81.3% in the third quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC acquired a new position in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the third quarter worth about $33,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSI opened at $456.75 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $438.91 and a 200-day moving average of $422.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.96. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $359.36 and a fifty-two week high of $492.22.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total transaction of $23,404,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,078,401.03. This trade represents a 51.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at $4,488,254.29. This represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964 in the last three months. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSI. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. Argus raised shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $497.14.

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.