Rathbones Group PLC Boosts Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 37.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 218,618 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 59,052 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $83,801,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSI. Covea Finance lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Covea Finance now owns 111,219 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $50,859,000 after buying an additional 6,153 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 20.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,345,492 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $615,280,000 after buying an additional 227,062 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.5% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,386,519 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,292,310,000 after buying an additional 490,354 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 8.4% in the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,701 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,582,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barden Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth about $1,462,000. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Motorola Solutions

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at $3,362,768.36. This trade represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 90,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,360,101.95. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. Company insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSI opened at $438.35 on Monday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $359.36 and a fifty-two week high of $492.22. The company has a market cap of $72.62 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.99. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $446.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $419.72.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. Motorola Solutions’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.04 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be issued a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions 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. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $540.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Motorola Solutions currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.