Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 230,661 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Congress Asset Management Co. lessened its position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 92.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,072 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 230,661 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $7,311,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions in the second quarter worth about $872,307,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at about $230,743,000. Capital World Investors increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 490,354 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 452,822 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 56.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 435,178 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $454.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $440.18 and a 200 day moving average of $422.10. The company has a market cap of $75.22 billion, a PE ratio of 35.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.96. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 12-month low of $359.36 and a 12-month high of $492.22. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $1.21 per share. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.93%.

Insider Activity at Motorola Solutions

In related news, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total transaction of $3,297,070.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. The trade was a 42.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total transaction of $23,404,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,078,401.03. This represents a 51.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. 1.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price target 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 raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions 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.