Horizon Investments LLC Lowers Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Horizon Investments LLC cut its holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 28.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,299 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,155 shares during the quarter. Horizon Investments LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $3,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSI. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. United Community Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 81.3% in 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. Strategic Advocates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 45.8% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. 84.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were 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 approximately $22,078,401.03. This trade represents a 51.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $204,032.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,362,768.36. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. Insiders own 1.28% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Motorola Solutions stock opened at $436.05 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $452.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $417.09. The firm has a market capitalization 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 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 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. 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.04 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 15.25 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th were issued a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.93%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Motorola Solutions currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $502.50.

Motorola Solutions Company 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.