SG Americas Securities LLC Buys 288,692 Shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. $MSI

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:MSI) by 3,126.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 297,925 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 288,692 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Motorola Solutions were worth $114,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Orion Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. United Community Bank grew its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 81.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Community Bank now owns 58 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 26 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Motorola Solutions in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 84.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Motorola Solutions Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:MSI opened at $456.75 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $438.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $422.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.47, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $75.67 billion, a PE ratio of 35.80, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.96. Motorola Solutions, Inc. has a 52 week low of $359.36 and a 52 week high of $492.22.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The communications equipment provider reported $4.59 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $4.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Motorola Solutions, Inc. will post 13.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Motorola Solutions Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 20th will be 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 of this dividend is Friday, March 20th. Motorola Solutions’s payout ratio is presently 37.93%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 28,435 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $43,360,101.95. This trade represents a 23.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kenneth D. Denman sold 434 shares of Motorola Solutions stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 129,069 shares of company stock worth $60,779,964 over the last ninety days. 1.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northcoast Research upgraded shares of Motorola Solutions from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $499.00 price target (up from $443.00) on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $470.00 price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Motorola Solutions from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Motorola Solutions from $515.00 to $520.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $497.14.

Motorola Solutions 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.