Whittier Trust Co. Sells 49,679 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

Key Points

• Whittier Trust Co. cut its stake in Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) by 83.7% in Q4, selling 49,679 shares and leaving 9,705 shares valued at about $3.70 million.
• Strong quarterly results and bullish analyst sentiment: Motorola beat Q4 estimates with $4.59 EPS (vs. $4.35) and $3.38B revenue (up 12.3% y/y), and analysts have raised price targets with a consensus near $502.50 and an overall "Buy" rating.
• Notable insider activity: Insiders have sold 129,069 shares (~$60.8M) in the past three months (including CEO Cynthia Yazdi), while the company pays a $1.21 quarterly dividend ($4.84 annual, ~1.1% yield).

Whittier Trust Co. cut its holdings in Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Free Report) by 83.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,705 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 49,679 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $3,698,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSI. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,386,519 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $4,292,310,000 after buying an additional 490,354 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 116.5% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 841,463 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $384,793,000 after buying an additional 452,822 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 56.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,203,661 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $550,422,000 after buying an additional 435,178 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 35.2% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 3,126.7% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 297,925 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $114,201,000 after buying an additional 288,692 shares during the last quarter. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $441.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.99. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 12 month low of $359.36 and a 12 month high of $492.22. The firm's 50-day moving average is $453.50 and its 200 day moving average is $418.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47.

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

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $499.00 target price (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $495.00 to $506.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Argus upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $502.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Cynthia Yazdi sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.01, for a total value of $3,297,070.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,529 shares in the company, valued at $4,488,254.29. This represents a 42.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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 $3,362,768.36. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

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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