Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. Acquires 9,740 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 18.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,152 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,740 shares during the quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc.’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $28,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSI. Norges Bank bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth $872,307,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 2nd quarter worth $230,743,000. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 116.5% in the third 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 period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 54.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,195,796 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $502,784,000 after purchasing an additional 422,039 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Motorola Solutions by 1.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,885,593 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $9,202,016,000 after purchasing an additional 384,479 shares in the last quarter. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total value of $23,404,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 47,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,078,401.03. This represents a 51.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,362,768.36. This trade represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 100,634 shares of company stock valued at $47,189,456. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Motorola Solutions

Here are the key news stories impacting Motorola Solutions this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly dividend announced: Motorola declared a $1.21 quarterly dividend (record March 20; pay April 15), implying a ~1.0% yield. Small recurring cash return and signal of capital-return policy stability.
• Negative Sentiment: Large CEO insider selling — Gregory Q. Brown: recent SEC filings show multiple sizable sales, including 50,000 shares (~$23.4M, Feb. 24) and additional blocks on Feb. 25–26 (see filings). These trades reduced his holdings materially and may weigh on sentiment given the scale. CEO 50,000-share sale filing CEO additional sale filing CEO sales filing
• Negative Sentiment: Other insider sales: CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares (~$3.3M) and director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares (~$204k) in late-February filings — further insider supply hitting the market. Cynthia Yazdi filing Kenneth Denman filing
• Negative Sentiment: Press coverage flagged the CEO’s sales (summary article). Media attention on large insider disposal can amplify negative investor reaction even if sales are for diversification or liquidity. Insider selling article

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 price target (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Northcoast Research raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 1st. 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. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Motorola Solutions has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of MSI opened at $481.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.04. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52 week low of $359.36 and a 52 week high of $492.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.72, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $411.12 and a 200-day moving average of $422.87.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.04 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.