Oak Thistle LLC Purchases Shares of 6,271 Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,271 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,404,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSI. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. United Community Bank raised its stake in Motorola Solutions by 81.3% during the third quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Motorola Solutions

In related news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the sale, the director directly 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total transaction 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 represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 in the last ninety days. 1.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on MSI. 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 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 note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus raised shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $502.50.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Shares of MSI stock opened at $441.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $73.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.63, 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 current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 1-year low of $359.36 and a 1-year high of $492.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $448.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $419.24.

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

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a $1.21 dividend. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.93%.

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.