Vanguard Group Inc. Has $8.50 Billion Stock Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Vanguard Group holds 22,163,668 shares of Motorola Solutions—about 13.31% of the company—worth approximately $8.50 billion after a small 8,291-share sale in Q4.
• Insiders have been net sellers, offloading 129,069 shares worth roughly $60.78 million in the last three months, leaving insiders with about 1.28% ownership.
• Analysts maintain a consensus Buy rating with a $502.50 target after Motorola beat Q4 estimates (EPS $4.59 vs. $4.35), and the firm pays an annualized dividend of $4.84 (yield ~1.1%).

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) by 0.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,163,668 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 8,291 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 13.31% of Motorola Solutions worth $8,495,777,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Motorola Solutions by 5.5% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,386,519 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $4,292,310,000 after purchasing an additional 490,354 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Motorola Solutions by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 3,433,482 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,570,096,000 after buying an additional 31,744 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Motorola Solutions by 35.2% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,355,159 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $568,930,000 after buying an additional 353,113 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,338,589 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $513,108,000 after buying an additional 570,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,312,744 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $600,095,000 after buying an additional 124,876 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,488,254.29. This represents a 42.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total value 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. This represents a 51.46% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. 1.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MSI shares. Argus raised Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Motorola Solutions in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $540.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $502.50.

Motorola Solutions Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of MSI stock opened at $438.50 on Monday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $359.36 and a 52-week high of $492.22. The stock has a market cap of $72.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's 50-day moving average is $454.23 and its 200-day moving average is $417.75. 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 posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.34 billion. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.Motorola Solutions's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $4.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 15.25 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $1.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Motorola Solutions's payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

About Motorola Solutions

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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