Raub Brock Capital Management LP Trims Stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Raub Brock Capital Management LP reduced its stake in Motorola Solutions by 41.9% in Q4, selling 14,611 shares and ending the quarter with 20,240 shares worth about $7.76 million (≈1.7% of its portfolio).
• Company insiders sold heavily last quarter—CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares and director Kenneth Denman sold 434, with total insider sales of 129,069 shares valued at roughly $60.78 million.
• Motorola beat quarterly expectations (EPS $4.59 vs. $4.35; revenue $3.38B, +12.3% YoY), analysts have a consensus Buy with an average price target of $497.14, and the company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.21 ($4.84 annual, ~1.1% yield).

Raub Brock Capital Management LP reduced its stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) by 41.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 20,240 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 14,611 shares during the quarter. Motorola Solutions makes up approximately 1.7% of Raub Brock Capital Management LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Raub Brock Capital Management LP's holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $7,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased 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 3rd quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In other Motorola Solutions news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of Motorola Solutions 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 sale, the director owned 7,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at $4,488,254.29. This trade represents a 42.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 in the last quarter. 1.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus raised Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $426.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $70.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $443.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $420.95. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $359.36 and a fifty-two week high of $492.22. 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 (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.35 by $0.24. The business 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $4.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be paid 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 1.1%. 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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