Guardian Capital LP Acquires 35,140 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Guardian Capital LP increased its holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 213.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 51,602 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,140 shares during the period. Guardian Capital LP’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $23,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,171,959 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $10,139,015,000 after buying an additional 286,366 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,681,622 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,237,985,000 after buying an additional 101,408 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,386,899 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,839,569,000 after buying an additional 51,474 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 0.8% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,401,738 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,430,295,000 after acquiring an additional 27,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions during the second quarter worth $872,307,000. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded Motorola Solutions to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $497.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total transaction of $23,404,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 47,167 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,078,401.03. The trade was a 51.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total value of $3,297,070.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. This trade represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company’s stock.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Motorola Solutions stock opened at $461.11 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $76.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.14, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $420.96 and its 200 day moving average is $423.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $359.36 and a 52-week high of $492.22.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last issued 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 net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $4.04 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. 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.