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

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Twelve analysts have an average rating of "Buy" (9 Buy, 2 Strong Buy, 1 Hold) with a one-year average price target of $502.50, and several firms recently raised targets (JPMorgan $520, Piper $499, Morgan Stanley $470).
• Quarterly beat: Motorola reported Q results with EPS of $4.59 (vs. $4.35 est.) and revenue of $3.38B (vs. $3.34B), revenue up 12.3% YoY, with a net margin of 18.44% and ROE of 110.75%.
• Stock ownership activity: Insiders sold 129,069 shares in the past 90 days (including CEO Gregory Brown's 50,000-share sale of ~$23.4M), while large institutions like Norges Bank built sizable positions (~$942.5M), leaving institutional ownership at 84.17%.

Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the twelve analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $502.50.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus raised Motorola Solutions to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $499.00 price objective (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd.

Motorola Solutions Price Performance

Shares of MSI opened at $433.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $450.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $418.98. Motorola Solutions has a twelve month low of $359.36 and a twelve month high of $492.22. 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 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 firm had revenue of $3.38 billion during 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 company's revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $4.04 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions will post 13.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 20th will be given a $1.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 37.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $468.09, for a total value of $23,404,500.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total value of $204,032.08. Following 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock valued at $60,779,964. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 4th quarter worth $942,542,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,181,925 shares during the last quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions by 95.6% during 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 during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 576.0% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 708,083 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $271,429,000 after buying an additional 603,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $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 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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