Czech National Bank Buys 1,605 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Czech National Bank grew its stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,919 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,605 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $16,835,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covea Finance lifted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 20.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,701 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,582,000 after buying an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 180.3% during 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, Capital World Investors raised 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 worth $4,292,310,000 after acquiring an additional 490,354 shares in the last quarter. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:MSI opened at $449.63 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $359.36 and a twelve month high of $492.22. The company has a market cap of $74.49 billion, a PE ratio of 35.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $442.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $422.49.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MSI shares. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock 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 investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Motorola Solutions has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.