Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Trims Stock Position in Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada cut its stake in Motorola Solutions by 92.3% in Q4, selling 23,319 shares and leaving it with 1,959 shares valued at about $746,000.
• Analysts remain broadly positive—multiple firms raised price targets (e.g., Barclays, JPMorgan, Piper Sandler) and the stock has a consensus "Buy" rating with a consensus target of $502.50.
• Significant insider selling occurred recently: CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares for roughly $23.4M, and insiders sold 129,069 shares worth about $60.78M in the last quarter.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) by 92.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,959 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 23,319 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.'s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSI. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. United Community Bank increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $499.00 price objective (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $540.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 target price on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $502.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total transaction of $204,032.08. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of MSI stock opened at $441.44 on Friday. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 12 month low of $359.36 and a 12 month high of $492.22. The stock has a market cap of $73.37 billion, a PE ratio of 34.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47. The company's fifty day moving average price is $453.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $418.47.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.35 by $0.24. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. The firm had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $4.04 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th were paid a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 20th. This represents a $4.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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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