Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 83.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,268 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 90,939 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $7,002,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Motorola Solutions by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,171,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,139,015,000 after acquiring an additional 286,366 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in 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 worth $4,292,310,000 after purchasing an additional 490,354 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,681,622 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,237,985,000 after purchasing an additional 101,408 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,433,482 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,570,096,000 after purchasing an additional 31,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 2nd quarter valued at about $872,307,000. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 0.8%

MSI opened at $450.91 on Thursday. 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. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $441.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $422.30. The company has a market cap of $74.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.96.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $0.24. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The company had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $4.04 EPS. Motorola Solutions’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $1.21 per share. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio is 37.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSI. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $499.00 price objective (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Motorola Solutions currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $497.14.

Insider Transactions at Motorola Solutions

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,167 shares in the company, valued at $22,078,401.03. This represents a 51.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total transaction of $3,297,070.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,488,254.29. The trade was a 42.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. Insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

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.