Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Sells 10,011 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. cut its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 3.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 296,362 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 10,011 shares during the quarter. Motorola Solutions makes up approximately 1.2% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $135,523,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 101,400 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $46,369,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 58,538 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $26,769,000 after buying an additional 4,646 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 347.0% during the 3rd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 3,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,805,000 after buying an additional 3,064 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rexford Capital Inc. increased its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 0.6% during the third quarter. Rexford Capital Inc. now owns 3,893 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $509.00 to $495.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Northcoast Research raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $465.00 to $443.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Motorola Solutions presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $491.86.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

MSI opened at $380.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $63.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.59. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $379.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $424.21. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $359.36 and a 52-week high of $492.22.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $4.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.85 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.99 billion. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.71% and a return on equity of 118.48%. Motorola Solutions’s revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.74 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be issued a $1.21 dividend. This is a boost from Motorola Solutions’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is currently 38.84%.

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.