Sky Investment Group LLC Has $1.30 Million Stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 213.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,381 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $1,296,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $872,307,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the second quarter worth approximately $230,743,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.5% during the 3rd 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. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 116.5% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 841,463 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $384,793,000 after purchasing an additional 452,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 56.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,203,661 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $550,422,000 after purchasing an additional 435,178 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.17% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 2.6%

MSI stock opened at $438.44 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a 50-day moving average of $443.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $421.82. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $359.36 and a 52-week high of $492.22. 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 (NYSE:MSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.24. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 transaction of $204,032.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at $3,362,768.36. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. 1.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MSI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of 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 restated 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. Argus raised Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $497.14.

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.