Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 3,100 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in Motorola Solutions by 10.4% in Q4, buying 3,100 shares to hold 32,801 shares valued at about $12.57 million.
• Significant insider selling occurred recently: CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares (~$13.6M) and Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares (~$3.3M), with insiders disposing of 129,069 shares (~$60.78M) over the past three months.
• Wall Street remains mostly positive with a consensus "Buy" rating and a $502.50 price target versus the recent ~$437.85 share price, and the company pays a $1.21 quarterly dividend (≈1.1% yield).

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co boosted its stake in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,801 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $12,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSI. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,313,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 1,313 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $600,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. United Community Bank boosted 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 16.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 190 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 45.8% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 86 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.17% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Motorola Solutions

In other news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total value of $13,590,508.25. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. 1.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSI opened at $437.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $72.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.93. The firm's fifty day moving average is $452.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $417.09. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52-week low of $359.36 and a 52-week high of $492.22.

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, analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 15.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MSI shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 price target on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $499.00 price target (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Motorola Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Motorola Solutions presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $502.50.

Motorola Solutions 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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