Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI Shares Purchased by Bahl & Gaynor LLC

Bahl & Gaynor LLC raised its holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 398,125 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,851 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $177,552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aristotle Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the 1st quarter worth about $983,432,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at about $374,617,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,381,506 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $599,532,000 after purchasing an additional 352,679 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,849,952 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,269,332,000 after purchasing an additional 323,725 shares during the period. Finally, SEB Asset Management AB purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 1st quarter worth about $112,734,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Motorola Solutions

Here are the key news stories impacting Motorola Solutions this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Motorola Solutions beat Q3 earnings expectations, raised its guidance and reported a record backlog. Its shares gained roughly 7% following the results, contrasting with a sharp post-earnings decline for competitor Axon. Axon vs. Motorola: Which Public Safety Stock Has More Upside After Q3 Earnings?
• Negative Sentiment: Several senior leaders reported selling shares in transactions on November 6 and 9. CEO Gregory Brown sold about 70,800 shares, while the CFO, COO and multiple senior vice presidents also reported sales—about 141,000 shares combined. Such sizable insider selling can concern investors, though the filings alone do not establish the reason for the sales. CEO Form 4 filing CFO Form 4 filing COO Form 4 filing

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $545.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $520.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $525.00 to $550.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $476.00 price objective (up from $470.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $545.70.

Insider Transactions at Motorola Solutions

In other Motorola Solutions news, SVP James Niewiara sold 2,086 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $522.35, for a total value of $1,089,622.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 18,398 shares in the company, valued at $9,610,195.30. This represents a 10.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Jason Winkler sold 9,609 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.06, for a total transaction of $4,929,993.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 11,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,807,326.14. This trade represents a 45.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 156,418 shares of company stock worth $80,087,836 over the last 90 days. 1.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Motorola Solutions Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MSI opened at $526.89 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $469.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $443.19. The stock has a market cap of $87.11 billion, a PE ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.86. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 12 month low of $359.36 and a 12 month high of $548.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 1.10 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.42 by $0.27. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 94.49% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $4.06 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th were given a dividend of $1.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is 38.94%.

Motorola Solutions Profile

Motorola Solutions, Inc. provides communications, software, video security and related services for public safety agencies and commercial and industrial organizations. Its products include two-way radios and land mobile radio systems, dispatch consoles, command center software, video surveillance systems and access control technology. The company’s offerings are designed to help customers coordinate communications, manage incidents and support security operations. Motorola Solutions also provides services such as system integration, maintenance and technical support.