Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA Purchases Shares of 88,632 Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA purchased a new position of 88,632 shares of Motorola Solutions in Q3, valued at about $40.54 million, making MSI its 10th-largest holding (2.2% of the fund) and representing 0.05% ownership of the company.
• Insider selling was material: CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares for roughly $23.4 million, and insiders have sold 129,069 shares (~$60.78 million) over the past 90 days.
• Operational and shareholder updates: Motorola Solutions beat Q earnings (EPS $4.59 vs $4.35 est.) with revenue up 12.3% year-over-year, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.21 per share (annualized $4.84, ~1.0% yield).

Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA purchased a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 88,632 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $40,540,000. Motorola Solutions comprises 2.2% of Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA's holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Kepler Cheuvreux Suisse SA owned 0.05% of Motorola Solutions as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Covea Finance boosted its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.9% in the third quarter. Covea Finance now owns 111,219 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $50,859,000 after acquiring an additional 6,153 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 20.3% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,345,492 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $615,280,000 after acquiring an additional 227,062 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 180.3% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 19,899 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $9,100,000 after acquiring an additional 12,799 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in Motorola Solutions by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 29,701 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $13,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Motorola Solutions by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,386,899 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,839,569,000 after purchasing an additional 51,474 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company's stock.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

NYSE:MSI opened at $463.47 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $424.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $422.64. 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 firm has a market cap of $76.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.96.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. Motorola Solutions's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $4.04 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions's payout ratio is 37.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Motorola Solutions news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $23,404,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 47,167 shares in the company, valued at $22,078,401.03. The trade was a 51.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.44% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSI has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price target on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Northcoast Research upgraded Motorola Solutions from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average 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.

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