D.A. Davidson & CO. Grows Stock Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 112.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,309 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,223 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,171,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $10,139,015,000 after buying an additional 286,366 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,433,482 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,570,096,000 after purchasing an additional 31,744 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 35.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,355,159 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $568,930,000 after purchasing an additional 353,113 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,338,589 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $513,108,000 after purchasing an additional 570,712 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Motorola Solutions stock opened at $436.05 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $452.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $417.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $72.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.17, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.93. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.04 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 15.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In other Motorola Solutions news, 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 transaction of $3,297,070.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. The trade was a 42.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,362,768.36. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Argus upgraded Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Motorola Solutions from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, April 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $502.50.

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.