Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 253,763 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 85.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,049 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 253,763 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $16,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth $25,000. United Community Bank boosted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 81.3% during the third quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advocates LLC bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on MSI. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a 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 raised their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Trading Down 0.3%

Motorola Solutions stock opened at $449.63 on Friday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $359.36 and a 52-week high of $492.22. The company has a market cap of $74.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $442.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $422.49.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.04 EPS. Analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid 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 currently 37.93%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total transaction of $204,032.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total value of $13,590,508.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 90,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,360,101.95. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

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.