Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Increases Stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria increased its stake in Motorola Solutions by 14.4% in Q3, owning 20,552 shares worth about $9.39 million after purchasing an additional 2,582 shares.
• Significant insider selling occurred recently: insiders sold 129,069 shares worth roughly $60.78 million over the last three months, including CEO Gregory Q. Brown's sale of 28,435 shares.
• Analysts are broadly positive—MarketBeat shows a consensus "Buy" rating with a $497.14 average price target, supported by several recent upgrades and raised targets.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. increased its position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) by 14.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,552 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,582 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.'s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $9,392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth about $25,000. United Community Bank grew its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 81.3% during the third quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. Field & Main Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total value of $13,590,508.25. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 90,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $43,360,101.95. The trade was a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total value of $3,297,070.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. The trade was a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays upped their price target 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. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $499.00 price target (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, December 1st. One research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Shares of MSI stock opened at $470.98 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average is $430.98 and its 200 day moving average is $422.78. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 1-year low of $359.36 and a 1-year 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. The company has a market cap of $78.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.91, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.96.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.04 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company 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 1.0%. Motorola Solutions's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

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.

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