Employees Retirement System of Texas Increases Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 2.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 178,669 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,701 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $81,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large 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 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. United Community Bank raised its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 81.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Field & Main Bank purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. 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 report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $497.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total value of $13,590,508.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 90,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,360,101.95. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total value of $3,297,070.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. This represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last ninety days. 1.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Motorola Solutions Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE MSI opened at $463.88 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $427.36 and its 200 day moving average is $423.20. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52 week low of $359.36 and a 52 week high of $492.22. 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 company has a market cap of $76.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.35, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.96.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.04 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.93%.

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.