Pensionfund Sabic Purchases New Holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Motorola Solutions (MSI) saw notable institutional activity in Q4: Pensionfund Sabic bought 3,800 shares (~$1.46M) while SG Americas Securities added substantially to reach 297,925 shares (~$114.2M), and hedge funds/institutions now own 84.17% of the stock.
• Insiders sold a total of 129,069 shares valued at $60,779,964 last quarter, including CEO Cynthia Yazdi's sale of 7,000 shares (a 42.35% reduction), leaving insiders with just 1.44% ownership.
• Analyst sentiment is positive with a consensus "Buy" and a $497.14 price target; the company beat Q4 EPS estimates ($4.59 vs. $4.35), reported 12.3% revenue growth, and announced a $1.21 quarterly dividend (1.1% yield, ex-dividend March 20).

Pensionfund Sabic purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,800 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,457,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clear Trail Advisors LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at $9,076,000. Carderock Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Carderock Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,408 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $4,373,000 after acquiring an additional 1,633 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 3,126.7% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 297,925 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $114,201,000 after purchasing an additional 288,692 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co. grew its stake in Motorola Solutions by 114.8% in the 4th quarter. Diversified Trust Co. now owns 7,060 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $2,706,000 after buying an additional 3,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Motorola Solutions by 166.1% in the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 149 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm'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 value of $204,032.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at $3,362,768.36. This trade represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total transaction of $3,297,070.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares of the company's stock, 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. Insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.44% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus raised Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. 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. Barclays raised their target price on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 0.6%

MSI opened at $454.04 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.96. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a one year low of $359.36 and a one year high of $492.22. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $440.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $422.10. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $4.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $1.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Motorola Solutions's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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