Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Motorola Solutions (MSI) from "hold" to "buy"; the stock has a consensus rating of Buy from analysts and an average price target of $502.50.
• MSI beat Q4 expectations with $4.59 EPS (vs. $4.35 est.) and $3.38B revenue, up 12.3% year-over-year, and reported strong profitability metrics including an 18.44% net margin and 110.75% ROE.
• Notable insider selling has occurred recently: CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares (~$13.6M) and insiders have sold 129,069 shares (~$60.8M) over the past 90 days.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

MSI has been the topic of a number of other reports. 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. Piper Sandler reiterated 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 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. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Motorola Solutions in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $540.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $502.50.

Motorola Solutions Stock Down 0.7%

MSI stock opened at $441.44 on Friday. Motorola Solutions has a 52 week low of $359.36 and a 52 week high of $492.22. The company has a market capitalization of $73.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.99. The firm's 50-day moving average is $453.50 and its two-hundred 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 released its quarterly 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. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 18.44% and a return on equity of 110.75%. The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $4.04 EPS. Motorola Solutions's revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $470.12, for a total transaction of $204,032.08. Following the sale, the director owned 7,153 shares in the company, valued at $3,362,768.36. The trade was a 5.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $477.95, for a total transaction of $13,590,508.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 90,721 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 over the last 90 days. 1.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Motorola Solutions

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MSI. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the second quarter valued at approximately $210,000. HUB Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Motorola Solutions by 38.7% during the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the period. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its stake in Motorola Solutions by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 16,279 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $6,845,000 after buying an additional 2,450 shares during the period. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Motorola Solutions in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $891,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.17% 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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