Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) Given Consensus Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts give Motorola Solutions a consensus "Buy" rating (12 analysts) with an average 12‑month target of $502.50, and several recent price‑target raises (e.g., Truist $540, JPMorgan $520).
• The company beat quarterly expectations with $4.59 EPS vs. $4.35 est. and revenue of $3.38B (up 12.3% year‑over‑year), showing strong profitability (ROE 110.75%, net margin 18.44%).
• Insiders sold 129,069 shares last quarter including the CEO's sale of 28,435 shares (~$13.6M), even as large institutions (Norges Bank, Northwestern Mutual, Orbis) added sizeable positions and institutional ownership stands at ~84.17%.

Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Buy" by the twelve analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $502.50.

MSI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Motorola Solutions in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $540.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Motorola Solutions from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, Argus raised Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Motorola Solutions

In other Motorola Solutions news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the business'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 sale, the director owned 7,153 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were 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 $43,360,101.95. This represents a 23.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. Company insiders own 1.28% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSI. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Motorola Solutions in the fourth quarter valued at about $942,542,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 11,507.4% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,192,196 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $456,993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,181,925 shares in the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 1,283,065 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $491,824,000 after buying an additional 627,066 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in Motorola Solutions by 576.0% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 708,083 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $271,429,000 after buying an additional 603,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in Motorola Solutions by 74.3% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,338,589 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $513,108,000 after buying an additional 570,712 shares during the last quarter. 84.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Motorola Solutions Stock Performance

Shares of MSI opened at $433.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.87. Motorola Solutions has a one year low of $359.36 and a one year high of $492.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.96, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a fifty day moving average of $451.32 and a 200 day moving average of $417.06.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Motorola Solutions had a return on equity of 110.75% and a net margin of 18.44%.The company had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.04 earnings per share. Motorola Solutions's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Motorola Solutions will post 15.25 EPS for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

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